angelic layer, the seven sins saga
by loss of reality
Summary: the world of angelic layer is turned upside down as a group of rouge players know as the "seven sin assassins" move to dominate the sport by crushing its best players...by any means. can Misaki handle this new challenge.or will she lose this battle?
1. Chapter 1

Notes by L.O.R: well, welly well… good day or night to you I am the amazing loss of reality. Some of you may know me from my work in the kingdom hearts section of our lovely fanfic community. But I have decided to do some traveling of sorts and have moved onto trying something a bit different from my usual work.

So here I give you wonderful people my latest word experiment, enjoy….or else. =)

Also I do not own angelic layer…too bad for me.

(takes place just a little bit after the series )

Angelic layer: the seven sin's saga

Chapter the first :slow days and weary angles.

The sun seemed brighter than usual as misaki lay back into the grassy knoll sighing. She closed her eyes and watched the spots of light through her eyelids and dozed for a few minutes. The warm sun was too inviting but she knew she had to get up soon, they were having an event at the piffle princess today.

At first she had been somewhat cautious when icchan had suddenly jumped out at her on her way home from school asking her to help them endorse their new line of angel accessories, but then again it was hard to say no to icchan when he got that weird glint in his eyes.

"Please misaki-chan pleeeease. Just this one favor for me!! Come on, you're the angelic layer champion you owe it to your fans!!!"

"Oookay icchan-san, now please let go of my ankle. People are staring…" and so that's how she found herself currently on her way to the piffle princess, with her angel hikaru gently nestled with in her book bag.

Misaki didn't care for the bus too much, a bunch of high tension city people packed together like sardines into a moving metal can just didn't suit her. Given the choice she would have rather walked but Icchan had needed her there before they opened and being the independent girl she was she said she could get herself there that morning. Of course today the bus seemed to be even worse than usual.

As she clung to her book bag for dear life she was jostled to and fro by the crowds departing and loading. And what was worse she had an eerie feeling running up and down her spine that she didn't like at all, as if someone was watching her. But she brushed it off and just tried to focus on not getting trampled.

……….

Finally, after much turmoil, Misaki found herself in front of the familiar sign, its golden crown shape all most comforting to her as the doors to the piffle princess swooshed open to admit the angelic layer champion in to its protective embrace of glass and steel.

Not even five steps in though the always creepy and familiar, yet still surprising sound of wiggling could be heard from behind the closest potted plant, and knowing what would happen misaki braced herself for the inevitable.

"IT'S ICCHAN!!!" with his usual proclamation, icchan squiggled from behind the plant his arms waving like two snakes on the ground.

After Misaki's initial shock was over and icchan firmly in front of her no longer wiggling, he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm smile.

"Well miskai-chan, here we are. Good thing you made it on time. The media isn't going to be here for another half hour. So you have time to collect your self."

"thank you Icchan-san, im still kinda nervous though, I don't know anything about all the new equipment im helping advertise."

"you don't need to, just look pretty and wave hikaru around every now and again, trust me youll be fine." All misaki could do was nod and sigh at this point. She just didn't have the energy to protest today, for that matter she didn't have much energy at all lately, not to many battles lately either. The league tournaments didn't start up again for some months.

The time past and soon the piffle princess was ready to open its doors as a mixed crowd of reporters, angelic layer veterans and rookies alike, and a few bored on lookers with nothing better to do but rubber neck. As they milled in and the noise grew a few familiar faces could be made out among the sea of people. Hatoko and her older brother Kotaro, sporting some bruises, no doubt the result of Tamayo's latest set of judo moves she'd been practicing. Without a moments waste, everyone crowded up to the top floor among the layer tables waiting expectantly for the arrival of the huge announcement.

Meanwhile Misaki could be found in a back room sitting, while her heart raced.

"_I don't think I can do this… being on the layer is one thing. But what if I mess up? Than icchan looks bad, so does all of angelic layer. Oh… Hikaru, what should I do?"_ Misaki didn't honestly expect an answer back from the petite angel, yet just having her close was a comfort to her.

Her silent partners unblinking stare was all she needed, with a deep breath she calmed herself and let her heart slow down a bit. She had to at least try.

…….

Back among the crowd, Hatoko was getting impatient, she wanted to see Misaki. They had promised to go shopping after she was done. As she craned her neck trying to make up for her lack of height she fell backwards, tripping over her own feet.

Just before she the floor a pair of hands caught her, but before she could say "thanks Kotaro." she saw her brother standing some feet away looking over at her with an odd expression on his face. Wondering who had her than, she looked up and had saw who had saved her from hitting her head on the hard floor.

The man was looking back down at her through circular sunglasses a lopsided smile on his face and a curtain of long frizzy brown hair hanging around his head in ringlets. As she righted herself she allowed herself a better look at the man.

He wasn't very tall, but he was a bit robust around the middle. The sunglasses where tinted, and reflected everything around him, making it impossible to know where was looking. even odder was the man's attire, he wore a wrinkled old over coat with a large collar and what seemed to be dress pants and a button up dress shirt with a closed vest over it, and a bowlers hat atop his head. And the whole outfit from shoes to hat, were a deep forest green in color. After some closer examination it could be seen even the lenses of his sunglasses were the same deep shade of green.

The man bowed slightly and smiled again.

"Sorry to startle you. But it wouldn't do to have a champion of angelic layer breaking her neck on such a big day." His voice was smooth, but in a forced kind of way, as if he had spoken in a rough dialect his whole life and was only imitating proper speech to mock it. Hatoko decided right away she didn't like the feeling of the odd creature before her and bowed back rather stiffly.

"umm.. no worries, I'm fine so its okay. If youll excuse me though…" but before she could leave the man quickly dug into his over coat and removed a small notepad and pen with a look of odd glee on his face.

"sorry to ask this Miss Hatoko, but would you mind, im actually a bit of a fan." His creepy smile only helped to further disturbed her nerves, but seeing no other way out she reached forward and signed the green mans autograph book.

"well isn't this swell. who'd thought Id get one of the best players in angelic layer to sign my book." He seemed overly pleased with the accomplishment and walked off, a huge dopey grin on his face. Hatoko couldn't help but shiver a little bit as he walked away and stood rather close to her brothers side for the duration of the event.

Just as she was just settling down , a loud fanfare could be heard as misaki and several big wigs from Icchans company, could be seen waving to the cameras. Misaki looked a little nervous, but all that aside she glowed as radiantly as always.

…..

From his corner of the room, the man in green watched the event with little interest, his covered eyes moveing from misaki, to hatoko, than to icchan in turn. Suddenly with a small jerk one of his pockets began vibrating and he dug into it and removed his cell phone, which was ringing.

" 'ello? Oh hi, avey. Wha…? Oh yes Im here. I got an autograph from…okay, okay I know you don't care. Mhmm….okay, fine. today? If you say so, I think it's early. Can I at least wait for a dramatic moment? Kay." _(click)_

As he hung up his phone he turned to face the big group now showcasing a set of new set of angel gear, smiled and waited.

……

Misakis fears were gone at this point as the reporters began their questions.

"Tell us Misaki-san. Plan on taking the championship again this year? Plan on protecting your title?"

"Of course! I can't wait to get started. But even if I do lose it doesn't matter as long as I get to play angelic layer I'm happy. Nothing can stop me from doing what I love." The crowed clapped and cheered at Misaki's proclamation. But as the applause died down, the sound of someone still clapping could be heard. Slow measured claps, in a sarcastic manner. Oddly enough, everyone turned to look at the offender and there stood the green man, his empty eye sunglasses looking straight at Misaki.

"that's all well and good. But never say nothing…" he walked forward, the crowd spreading to give him space, as no one wanted to get near the odd man.

"you say it now. But I suppose you are probably feeling rather confident of yourself. But no for long…let me see here" he once again dug into his coat until he retrieved a rather crumpled piece of paper and began to read off it.

"To the champions of angelic layer and those who support it. consider now the joy of standing among the angels. For soon upon the layer shall arrive the first of the demons. This is a formal challenge, to all who think they can handle it. we the seven sin assassins here by proclaim, that by the end of the next championship we shall defeat each and every one of the top layer challengers."

Not waiting for questions. The man than removed what appeared to be a party popper, the kind that you pulled and the front exploded in a cloud of confetti and streamers. He pulled the string and the resounding "BANG!!" was loud enough to leave a ringing noise in peoples ears, as a huge cloud of green smoke engulfed the room.

By the time it was cleared, the green man was nowhere to be seen, and a feeling of confusion settled over the whole room, and all those watching at home on their televisions.

End chapter one.


	2. Chapter 2

Notes for the writer: well, lets see how far we can take this shall we kiddies.

Chapter two of the seven sins saga: strategy meetings… and cake.

What should have been a tense atmosphere was oddly light hearted during the afternoon. After the mornings odd events the confusion gave way to several reporters falling prey to a fit if laughter. The general opinion was that the green man, as the news was now calling him, was a lone nut. A crazed angelic layer fan with too much spare time and a bad sense of humor.

Even icchan found the affair funny and told misaki not to worry as he ushered her out of the piffle princess with hatoko and her brother.

"Don't worry, you get odd balls here and there. We'll keep an eye out for now, but I doubt its anything serious." Of course Misaki couldn't see the apprehension behind his usually gentle eyes as she walked away.

The shopping district was as busy as always as Misaki walked hand in hand with her friend Hatoko, Kotaro having left for home sometime ago, their angels sticking out of their book bags.

"_Sure Icchan-san said not to worry, but he seemed serious. And he said seven sins. That's what worries me so much"_ she couldn't help but feel a little bit uneasy, it was her nature. It was the tugging of her sleeve that brought her to her senses. She looked downat hatoko to see the deep look of concern on her face, and her heart melted, Hatoko could be too cute sometimes.

"Misaki-san, you seem really distracted lately. I've seen it in your face and the way you act. Is everything okay with you and your mom? Or is it something else, maybe it's…Ojiro?" Misaki blushed at that, Ojiro was a bit of a sensitive subject, seeing as she wasn't sure about her own feelings on the matter. But that wasnt it either.

"you know what Hatoko-chan, I really don't know… I've just sort of felt…tired lately. I cant explain it. I guess after the last tournament, and all the media events and stuff, I just feel run down. I kinda miss when it was just about me and hikaru. Out on the layer, nothing to worry about but the fight. I feel so overwhelmed. And now this green guy…I feel so confused Hatoko-chan, what should I do?"

Hatoko stood there a moment taking in what Misaki said and then smiled.

"sounds like you just need a vacation. Tell you what, seeing as I was going to ask you anyways, I may as well ask you now. Me and kotaro are going to visit our aunt and uncles inn out in the country side in Hokkaido. Do you want to join us?"

Miskai was taken a bit by surprise and had to think for a second. She would love to get away from the city for awhile, this was a good excuse. All she would have to do was clear with her mom, which wouldn't be hard.

"Okay Hatoko, I'm pretty sure I can go, I would love to go with you." hatoko beemed at this and taking Misaki's hand again, the two walked off to enjoy their day around town.

…….

"chief mihara are you sure about this?" Icchan was hovering vulture like over the control panels of the angelic layer stadium control room, as his group if hapless assistants worked furiously over a ong list he had given them. currently the huge screen in front of them was running photo after photo of registered angelic layer competitors who held an angel card, and checking them against a second picture. A snap shot of the green man taken at the piffle princess before he had disappeared.

"of course im sure about this, know thy enemy as well as your self!!!" he had them doing this from the moment he had returned from the press event and they were six hours into the affair by now.

"Enemy seems a bit harsh sir, besides a cross check of _EVERY_ single dues in angelic layer will take days, were talking about even covering international data bases. I have to go home eventually sir." Icchan's eyes gleamed behind his glasses as he got right behind his poor assistant breathing down his neck.

"youll have it done in three days, or else you have to play the punishment game…this time's penalty is reeealy bad." The sound of his chiefs voice sent shivers up his pine as his fingers were sudddnly typing three times faster than usual as icchan made his way to the door.

"wait Chief!! Where are you going!!"

"Me? Well you think im gonna waste three days here, I've got a life. Ill get you something to eat while im out. BYYYEEE!!!"

"CHIEF!!" but Icchan was long gone.

……….

"Okay, so I guess ill have to pack for breezy weather I suppose." Misaki and Hatoko, where sitting inside a small café, sharing a piece of cake as they talked about their approaching trip. A lot of Misakis anxieties were gone now and she was quickly forgetting about the mornings odd events. Just as they were getting their things together and were about to leave though, one of the waitress's was rushing to the window and pointing to the big T.V on the office building outside. Everyone looked up and misaki and hatoko had to rush outside to hear what was going on.

On the screen was a piffle princess in another city. And in the front was a man yelling at the camera. He was tall, very, very tall. He wore a tight black business suit, with a puffy white frock, and a tall top hat. He was very old as well. His face was pulled just as tight as his suit looking like some kind of bird of prey, long white hair curling down his neck. And a trim moustache and pointed little beard, he gave the appearance of some kind of Hollywood vampire.

The troubling thing was that he was reading off a small piece of paper to the camera.

"Soon the demons shall make their way to the layer and the angles shall fall in a torrent of bloody feathers. We the seven sin assassins give yet another warning. Champions of angelic layer, stand down now or face our ire." With a similar trick as the green before the old man threw something to the ground, and a cloud of gold smoke filled the picture. And as it cleared the man was nowhere to be seen.

Misaki could only look up in awe as a deep sinking feeling hit her stomach. Now she felt like was a good time to worry.

…..

Back in his apartment ojiro watched the T.V and smirked. It had been getting to boring lately anyways. But still better to talk to his brother about this first. He had the distinct impression that he might know a little bit about this already.

....

"Iccan sneezed and looked around, he was seated at a small noodle cart on the far end of town, having completely forgotten his promise to return to work that day.

"why do I have this bad feeling?" rather than dwell on it, he got up, paid the man in the cart, and rushed away. He wasn't sure why, but he had the feeling it was a good idea to hurry back to work. As he ran is eyes caught images of the odd old man of the televisions in the electronic store windows and he hurried faster.

"Damn it. This wasn't supposed to happen. I thought I fixed this problem back than… why do you keep coming back to bug me…"

……

Meanwhile far off on the top of a tall apartment complex a small telescope was set up, and aimed to watch the angelic layer stadium. Then it moved to point down at the street just in time to catch Icchan running there.

"found you…old friend. This time I get the last laugh, just you watch Mihara-sempai." The green man pulled away from the telescope and went inside the penthouse apartment tossing his hat onto a chair, letting his curly hair fall around his face, as he deposited his jacket on a peg by the door, leaving him in his green dress shirt and vest. He sat down and removed his sunglass's and fell back with his eyes closed as he fumbled on the small table beside his chair and pulled an angel onto his chest.

The angle in question sat on him motionlessly, garbed in a black trench coat that obscured most of his features, and a tall collar that covered its face.

"so than _glutonaria_ what shall it be today. How about Chopin, or Bach?" the man pulled a small remote form off the table and clicked it and soothing music filled the apartment as he leaned back further.

"ahh, so the game begins."

End chapter two.


	3. Chapter 3

1Chapter three: preparations.

"Chief mihara, I think I found something!!! Ogata, icchan's hapless assistant was going through a large stack of paper work on his keyboard and triumphantly held up what looked like an old crumpled file.

"its an old copy of an angel card registry from the country of Ireland, I hadn't even known we had angel eggs shipped there, let alone layers…"

Icchan took the file and sat back down in his chair and spun a bit.

"We didn't send too many, and the layers themselves were never built there. There were some in the UK though, if it was a deus they would have to go to England to play at the time this file was issued by the looks of it. But it seems to be one of the first angel cards we issued in Europe. Lets see…."

Icchan flipped thorough the files pages and stopped when he came to the last page.

"this is weird, it says his angel card was to be suspended for the duration of some years, by order of our UK branch." Ogata looked confused not having read the whole file himself.

"Suspended? For what?"

"It says, excessively dangerous and self-destructive game practices on the layer. Also endangering other players. Now we're getting somewhere, Ogata, see if you can pull up a recording of one of this deus's fights. Its important we know what were dealing with here."

"yes chief mihara… say chief mihara? I was just thinking, what kind of "self-destructive" habits could get you banned from the layer, was he using drugs or something? I really don't see angelic layer having some kind of steroids issue." Ogatta laughed at his weak humor and was surprised to hear his chief laugh with him a bit.

"Well that's a good question, and I intend to find out, as a matter of fact I plan on calling the head of our European branch and asking them myself about this. Oh and one thing Ogatta, if you tell anyone about all this research….for the punishment game you get to dress like wizard and dance on a layer while I pretend to control yoooouuu!!!" Icchan wiggled his arms to and fro as Ogatta shivered and shook his head up and down to signify he understood.

"Good, than if you'll excuse me I have some calls to make, so clean this mess up and get those fight records for me."

……….

Despite her intial bout of shock Misaki was soon to busy and excited to worry about anything, her preparations for her trip where going full force and god forbid if someone got in her way in the kitchen as she worked tirelessly over several luchboxes for the trip to Hokkaido. It had been decided they would go by train, than by bus, than hike the last neck of the trip through the country side to Hatoko and kotaro's family's inn. The whole of the day had been dedicated to getting ready and as she finally finished cleaning out the rice cooker and allowed herself to sit down and rest she felt oddly drained.

Her limbs felt heavy and it seemed she needed this vacation more than she thought.

" _Have I really been so busy? I guess I was so occupied I hadn't even noticed I was tired"_ she looked around the living room of the house her and sighed, her mother Shuuko was out shopping and not liking the silence she reached for the T.V remote.

Nothing was on, like always and she wasn't really watching it as she curled up in the chair and pulled Hikaru off the coffee table and held the little angel to her chest and rocked a bit as she felt tiredness overtake her.

"What do you think Hikaru? Maybe I'm working too hard; I could take a rest from the layer for a while? You wouldn't mind would you?" Misaki drifted and within minutes she was out, curled up in a little ball snoozing in the warmth of the sunlight pouring through the window holding Hikaru close.

_The whole of the area around her was dark and cold and the sky above was a perfect grey, filled with clouds. The path in front of her was lined with dead trees and a light snow fell .Nothing here seemed able to support life. Even the sun gave off a weak pathetic light that held no warmth to it._

……………………….

"_Where am I?" Misaki looked around in confusion as the wind whipped through her. _

"_Is anyone there? Some one?" she ran forward hoping to find some signs of anything that want grey like the whole of this odd world. And there on the farthest end of the path stood a light, and in it was Hikaru, standing at Misakis height and looking at her with a sad smile._

"_Hikaru? What is it, why are you looking at me like that? Is something wrong?" before she could get and answer a dark hand, that seemed to be made of shadow laced its self around hikaru's waist as another one looped over her shoulder. _

"_You think that you can defend the angels? You lack what it takes to beat the demons within, just run off and go play like the stupid little girl you are." The voice was coming from behind Hikaru at first but than moved until it came from right beside Misaki's ear_

"_run little girl, hide and cower, it's no use."_

…………………………

Misaki woke up with a start almost falling from the chair. She sat back for a few minutes breathing hard and feeling a cold sweat run down her neck. She looked down at hikaru and hugged the angel closer feeling some of her tensions ease but not leave completely.

"I guess we need this vacation more than we thought, huh Hikaru?"

…………

Sai sat quietly in her apartment watching the leaves blow about in the court yard of the complex, her angel shirahime sat motionlessly upon the table looking coldly ahead into the distance. Her mind was far from being as calm as her exterior though. Ever since the first appearance of two of these so called "seven sins" she had been very anxious indeed. So far nothing else had happened, but it was really too quiet to her. The ice machine decided it was no good waiting around for something bad to happen though and had immediately gotten in touch with the angelic layer company, only to be told she didn't have to worry and that it was being "handled".

And so she sat her feeling angry and helpless. It was the worst feeling in the world to her being helpless when something big was happening, it wasn't her nature to be on the sidelines. With one last glimpse at shirahime she stood up, grabbed the angel and stalked out the door, garbed in her usual green uniform.

She wasn't sure what she was doing, but she needed to find something to do or she would go crazy sitting at home. If she was out she might be able to concentrate better.

Being out in the open air under the blue afternoon sky was always comforting, even with the noise of all the people she was able to feel calm settle over her heart, and without knowing how really she found herself on the cherry tree lined path that lead to her school. It was odd but she silently sat herself down on a bench directly beneath the biggest of the trees and crossed her legs sighing in thought.

She had quite a few memories connected to this bench. It was where she would sit and think, while her sister had been in the hospital. And it was where she first met kaede, her closest, and really only….

"friend?" Sai whispered the word and thought about it. sure she was more open with kaede, but it wasn't like they ever hung out or anything. She felt a bit at odds sometimes when she was with the angelic like deus of blanch. She was defiantly more than just an acquaintance. But a friend? Maybe.

Mabye not.

It was hard to say, Sai had few friends in her life. But now she felt like she was going in circles, why think of this now, she had left the house to clear her head, not fill it with useless thoughts.

And so she sat and pondered for a long time, almost in a trance. The cherry blossoms danced on the light breeze and she was so zoned that it almost seemed natural to her to hear the sound of a voice singing until it was loud enough for her to know it wasn't in her head.

It was a woman's voice, or more specifically a girls voice. The song was slow and she rolled her voice in a sensual tone as she sang to herself. The girl in question was short, with black hair going about to the middle of her neck, slicked straight, wearing tight jeans and a baggy shirt.

The song its self was odd and sai couldn't help but to lean a bit to listen to it

"_when the devil is too busy_

_And deaths a bit too much,_

_They call on me by name you see_

_For my special touch._

_To the gentle men I'm Miss fortune._

_To the ladies I'm Sir pirse_

_But call me by any name_

_Anyway it's all the same."_

"_im the fly in your soup_

_Im the pebble in your shoe _

_Im the pea beneath you bed---_err hello."

Sai was startled, as the girl suddenly stopped and waved to her, smiling.

"Sorry to bug you and all, but would you happen to be miss Sai, the ice machine? I hate to sound rude but could you maybe, say…sign my—" Sai had her hand up before the girl could even finish.

"I don't sign autographs. If you could just leave me be, I would appreciate it." the girl thought for a second and sai had the distinct impression she saw the corner of her smile twitch ever so slightly, a sign of repressed emotions of some kind. But she bowed and was on her way none the less without another word.

"What an odd girl" but sai didn't have the time to ponder it though. But it had helped to distract her from being upset, so there seemed to be one odd positive in the day.

……………….

Not far off the girl sat crossed legged behind a tree watching Sai till she left, and sighed. After she was sure no one was within ear shot she stood up and punched the closest tree with all her might, leaving a small dent in the hard bark.

"That…Bitch!!! Just brushing me off like that!!! I should ring her damn neck and watch her face go blue!!!!" after a moment of her tirade she stopped as quickly as she had started and removed a cellphone from the inside of her baggy shirt and dialed in a rather frustrated manner.

_Ring…..ring….(click) "hello?"_

"Yo moron, it's me. I just made contact with jonuichi Sai."

"_And? I said to get a report on her, did you even pay attention to anything or did you just do that thing were you walk off and start raving like a lunatic? I need you to focus….never mind, asking you to focus is like asking a bee not to sting you for whacking its hive with a stick."_

"SCREW YOU!!!! I know what im doing. Also she didn't sign the stupid book like you wanted."

"_Hmm disappointing. But not matter I suspected she wouldn't. Oh well it's not that important. I just wanted it for my deus signature collection, I wanted to get all the finalist from last years Kanto tournament but it's not a big priority."_

"You just wanted it for you collection!? God damn I hate you. I thought you had something important you wanted those signatures for."

"_nope"_

"God….I…hate…you. just tell me you have a plan for the next step Glut. I'm sick of waiting."

"_I know Wrathy. Not to worry, its almost time to start. After all, the pieces have been placed so well for us. Now we just need to remove the pawns and the king is ours."_

"Enough metaphors, I'm going now, I have better things to do than listen to you yak Glut."

"_fine, fine. just be ready for when we need you….(click)_

She closed her cellphone and returned it to the inside of her shirt and shook her head a bit.

"God, it's so painful talking to that guy." She turned on her heels a few times and was soon on her way, going back down the road she came looking up at the cherry blossoms and frowning a bit.

"Stupid pink trees."

…………

"Perfect! Almost ready." Hatoko was busy rushing back and forth in her room, deciding on last minute additions to her suit case, torn between what to leave and what to take to Hokkaido with her. All the morning had been a big rush for her, while kotaro lazed about the house, having already done his packing, giving Hatoko the impression that men must either be very lazy or be missing that part of the brain that tells them to be prepared for anything that might happen.

Having gone over her list several times though hatoko finally decided she was packed and ready and collapsed on her bed sighing. Now that she had the time to think, she went back to why she asked misaki to join them in the first place. After the appearance of that nutcase at the piffle princess, a fierce idea that Misaki was in danger had inched its way into her head. She wasn't sure why, but the moment that she set eyes on him she felt the shiver of fear run down her spine.

But even more so, it was the need to keep close to Misaki. Ever since she had been her second she felt a need to protect Misaki. If there was one thing she could see that others couldn't, it was how fragile she really was deep down. Misaki was her closest friend and heck if she was going to let anything hurt her.

"I really hope she listens to me, I can't think of anything else that would help her right now." Hatoko had thought and thought, and after a few days had come to a conclusion of what she needed to do, it was going to be hard but she felt even more sure with each passing moment that this trip was the chance she needed. Even if it hurt her to do it, she had to get Misaki to keep away from angelic layer for as long as she could. It was the only way she had right now to protect.

"please, stay safe Misaki."

…………….

"I see, so you've got nothing on him? But it says he registered for an angel card. And he got one too. He should be somewhere in your records. I told you his name was Johnny. Johnny sandsteel. Yes I know it's a fake sounding name, it probably is one. He may have signed for his card under an alias. Just try and match pictures. This is important." Icchan was stuck in circles with the Angelic layer European branch headquarters. They had nothing on the name from the file he had seen matching the green man. But he knew it would be there somewhere or at least should be.

After nearly an hour on the phone Icchan had hung up in frustration and sulked his way back to the control room, ignoring Ogatta's panicked attempt to clean the mess of papers everywhere as he fell back into his chair and closed his eyes whispering to himself.

"Dammit. I know you're behind this Johnny. Just give up before you hurt someone else this time. Why do you have to keep making me hate you? Johnny…no… Doctor sandsteel, you stopped being Johnny a long time ago, didn't you?"

Icchan stayed this way for some time, contemplating as he sat. it was long into the night before he had managed to pull himself from his chair and told Ogatta to go home and just waited for him to leave.

With no one around Icchan just stood quietly in the dark, breathing slowly, thinking long into the night and that's how his team found him the next morning when they came in.

………………

Misaki stood waiting at the train station, her head full of exciting thoughts of how she would spend her time off. All that was left was for hatoko, kotaro, and Tamayo to arrive and of course the train to get there.

She was so excited that she failed to notice that not far from her, inside the station sitting on a bench directly on the opposite side of the wall from her was a man in a black suit and vest with a black jacket, hat and perfectly round sunglasses. He smirked from behind the newspaper he was reading and took another look at the ticket he was holding in his hand.

_12:00pm train from _

_Tokyo into the Hokkaido region_

_Good for one trip._

End chapter 3

Notes from the writer: well that was fun. Also, just so you know, that song in the chapter being sung was the first few lines of "when your evil" by Voltaire. Please review!!!


	4. Chapter 4

A word from Loss of reality: ARG!!!! I have so much to do…I need to get things organized I do. Not to mention the sins are getting restless. But yes here we are and all ready for the latest chapter. This chapyer will focus on some important story points. So if you're not paying attention right now…..

(CLAP, CLAP) OY!!!

Chapter four: a long train ride.

The scenery flew by outside the window as Misaki sat in her seat, watching the sun move over the sky and the clouds float aimlessly around. Trains rides were oddly calming, it may have been the motion or the sight of the world changing so fast but it soothed her tired sprit somehow. At some point or other hatoko had fallen asleep in the seat beside her, and her squeaky little snores added to her all about cuteness. With only a few hours to go they would be in Hokkaido by the late afternoon, and the anticipation kept her going at the moment.

_Meanwhile….._

In the farthest car at the end of the train, sitting among the luggage was the man from the station, who had been sitting on the other side of the wall from misaki. His perfectly round sunglass's pushed up on his face so he could see in the dim light of the luggage carriage. A black bowler hat perched on his lap. It would be with some difficulty that anyone could have done seen it, but it was the green man from before. His frizzy hair, now straightened, and dyed a black to match his outfit.

But not stopping there his nails were painted a rich smooth black, and even his lips sported lipstick to match. As he looked once more at his news paper he felt rather satisfied with himself. Sneaking on to the train had been easier than he thought.

_(ring…ring)_

With a sudden start his phone rang, suprsing him for just a moment until he had managed to dig it from his pocket, and opened it.

" hello…?" the other end of the line sounded a bit static but it was to be expected considering his location.

"_yes..gluttony, its avarice _. _just checking to see if you were on the way. I had some doubts when you said that you were going by yourself."_

"please, old man, don't you worry. Its going smooth as silk. Except for having to hide on the luggage room…."

"……_and why are you hiding? I bought you a set of tickets for the trip and the return trip just liked you asked. Mind they were not cheap tickets, must I remind you as the treasurer of our little "gang" I should let you know that were not exactly made of money right now."_

"Well about that….I had the tickets. Than I thought I saw Gackt, the pop star, and rushed to get an autograph for my book. But it wasn't him, then I saw a lunch cart with a kind of sweet melon bread I hadn't tried yet, so I had to get some, than I saw a vendor selling my favorite fruit candy, so I went and got some. And then on my way back I needed something cold to follow the bread so I bought an ice cream cone. And by the time I got back to the platform, I'd found that the tickets weren't in my wallet anymore." He said his whole piece in one breath than sighed listening to the otrher end of the phone for some kind of response.

"………_..have I ever told you that for a real genius of angelic layer you're an idiot in everything else?"_

"On a daily basis. But I don't see how that alleviates the situation." He heard what may have been swearing on the other end of the phone which soon ended as the voice returned.

"_never mind. You'll have to find your own way back; I refuse to give any more of our sensitive funds to your tomfoolery. Oh and I thought I should mention, I think we might have found envy. I have dispatched lust and wraith to pick him up."_

"Oh! Splendid. You make sure to give him an earful when you find him. but that's for later. I'll call you when I'm finished up."

_(click)_

_Far off in Tokyo._

In the streets of Tokyo, among the alley ways a shuffling could heard followed by the loud yelling of a man, as the back door of a seedy looking building opened and someone was tossed out on to the pavement.

"Well screw you, I don't need you!!! I can find someone else to do it!" the man stood up and straightened himself up. He was of average height, made to look taller by the boots he wore. For the most part he was covered by a fog jacket and his short brown hair although slightly mussed was slicked back.

"That sucked, but I refuse to rest until I am satisfied!!" just as he was ready to depart, a loud banging could be heard and as he turned to see the source, a trash bin came hurtling at his head, making contact.

By the time he woke up he was in the back of fancy black car racing through the country side.

"Wha- where am i.." as he came too and his eyes regained their focus he was able to notice the two woman sitting across from him. one was short girl with slicked black hair, in fact it was the same girl who had spoken with Sai. And next to her was a tall, tanned woman with sleek blonde hair down to her shoulders, her tight outfit of black leather leaving nothing to the imagination. It was the short one to speak first.

"well you really make it hard to find you envy. I was sorta hoping you'd died but no such luck it seems for me. But whatever, we are getting ready for phase two, so shape up." Envy rubbed his head where a red spot was now forming and sighed.

"what did you hit me with anyway wraith?"

"A trash can." Wraith showed little care as she responded.

"Why didn't you just call my name if you wanted my attention?!"

"I already had the trash can over my head." She crossed her legs and looked out the window showing little concern for his pain. After a moment the taller woman spoke up trying to ease the tension.

"So, envy, do tell what were you doing that kept you away from home for so long, its been a week since I last saw you." the envy shhok his head to regain some of his senses and thought for a moment.

"well….i saw this really neat tattoo on the t.v and thought to myself wouldn't it be better if it was on me, and in solid gold ingrained under my skin? But would you believe no tattoo parlor in all of Tokyo would do it, I said I had the gold already, but noooo, nothing. I mean really cut a guy a break."

Both the woman stared for a moment trying to let what was said sink in. and then both let it drop knowing better than to question him. after a few seconds wraith spoke again.

"you haven't been taking your meds have you?"

"What of course I have…last week. Maybe…I don't remember. Which one? The blue pills or the little green one they give me?"

"…..ya know forget I asked. Let's just get the hell home with your stupid ass ya damn freak."

…………..

_Back on the way t Hokkaido _

Miskai several hours of train travel had left misaki antsy, she needed to move around and had taken to walking up and down the cars. Hikaru held closely to her breast. The passengers gave her little mind as she made her way towards the end of the cars, than turning back around and going the other way. After about fifteen ,minutes of pacing like this she came to rest in the dining car, watching the sun trail across the sky, as she sat and sighed looking at menu, not really reading what was in front of her.

"Hmm misaki-chis's thoughtful face is just too cute!!" sitting right across from her was Tamayo grinning at misaki in a Cheshire cat like way.

"NYA!! Oh tamo-chan…I was just bored so I thought I would walk around a bit, but tamo-chan sure is sneaky I didn't hear you comeing."

"that's cuase misaki-chi is all distracted lately. I've seen it your eyes. Your all spacey eyed and you seem tired a lot. I- that is we've all been worried about you ever since those loonies showed up at the piffle princess and challenged the angelic layer champions." Miskai flinched, this was a subject she wanted to avoid, but suddenly a thought came to her.

"say tamo-chan, they said seven sins. What where they again?" Tamayo slapped her forehead but smiled none the less.

"sheese, the seven sins are…umm….lets go ask kotaro-chan!!!" after a hasty search the two found kotaro sitting in a corner of the front car with a headset listening to music, and asked him to help them with their quest for knowledge.

"The seven sins? The seven sins are seven evil acts that most people believe are one way tickets to the underworld committing them is against god's will. If I remember the list goes like, wraith, lust, pride, sloth, gluttony, greed, and envy." Miskai tries her best to understand everything kotaro had just said and starched her head.

"if they're so bad why would someone want to be called the "seven sins" than?" it was hatoko that answered her, rubbing her eyes as she sat up in her seat waking up only a few minutes ago.

"to scare people, most people are afraid of damnation, so they do their best not to succumb to the temptation to sin. These people hope to frighten us maybe?" miskai felt a shiver and decided she really didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Say, why don't we eat some the lunch I packed." Her diversion worked though as the topic was instantly dropped and everyone's attention turned to one of miskai's perfectly made lunchboxes. Just as they were in the middle of it the train pulled into a small station in the middle of the country side to drop off and pick up a few passengers. As soon as it stopped though a ruckus could be heard throughout the whole train.

"Get your hands off me, I have my rights!!"

"Not when you sneak on to a train without a ticket. You even had the nerve to try and steal from the snack cart!!"

"Oh come one I was hungry and I told you I have…err had a ticket. Wait what are you-(oomph-Thump)" the sound of someone hitting the pavement and rolling was heard as several passengers including misaki and friends looked out the window to see what was happening.

What they saw was a mass of black leather pushing a hat back on its head buried under a pile of packaged snacks and a pair of sunglasses sitting askew on his face.

"You can't do this, if I have to walk all the way it will take me till midnight!! You MOTHERFU-(_WHIRRR-SHUNCK) _before he had time to continue though the train doors had slideshut and the train began speeding on its way. Miskai settled back into her seat and shook her head.

"Did he seem familiar to you guys?" everyone else thought for a second but all shook their heads.

"He must just have one of those faces. Bui can't say I knew him"

"Me neither"

"Same here"

…………………………..

Meanwhile the man stood up on the platform and dusted himself off. After setting his sunglasses back properly he dug into his pocket and removed his cell phone and hit one of the buttons.

After a moment he heard the faint click of an answering machine and spoke angrily into the reciver.

"Avarice, it's me gluttony. I hit a snag on the way to Hokkaido, going to be late getting back, by maybe about a day or two. Call everyone and get them assembled for a meeting to discuss phase two. I'll be back home as soon I can. Once I get our last member that is. (_click)_

"Man this is gonna be a drag, I gotta walk the whole way….well I better get started."

……………

After what seemed like forever Misaki stepped into the breeze as she left the train station and took a deep breath of the sweet country air, her whole body seeming to fill with new energy just from this simple action. The sky was clear save a few clouds and the sun was still bright and cheery.

With every step she felt like her whole world was clearing up just little bit more. Her sprit felt as free as the clouds above her right then , as she strolled on, unaware of the events now currently taking place in on the top floor of a high building in a penthouse apartment, where at this moment, five very strange individuals where holding a conversation.

A conversation that spelled deep trouble for all of angelic layer.

End chapter 4

Notes from the writer: hmm, I tried my best ot put a lot of thought into this one. I admit I sidetrack from our heros a lot but this wont be a regular trend, I just really love my villains so much that I need a big build up sometimes.


	5. Chapter 5

_Well hello my sweet little ducklings and fellow angelic layer enthusiasts, Loss of reality here and ready once again to present the latest chapter to you. I do apologize for the long time between last time. I was horribly busy and also encountered some technological issues, it's hard to explain to the computer store that your last computer was hit by a bulldozer you were driving at the time...._

_so than here it is the new chapter. Recently re-edited for some errors here and there, forgot to double check my own work....._

Angelic layer the seven sins saga, ch5: the calm before...

"Come on Misaki!! Your falling behind everyone else." Hatoko was yelling back at the slowpoke of their group as they trekked the path that lead to the inn owned by kotaro and Hatoko's aunt and uncle. Misaki was going slowly not because she was tired, but because she at once fell absolutely in love with the scenery around her, and was now trying her best to let it fill all of her tired senses. She excitedly clutched her angle to her chest, the cool wind caressing them as if to welcome her to peace.

"I'm coming Hatoko, don't fell like you need to wait up for me." The younger Girl nodded her head and moved on ahead, trying her best not to let Misaki see the worried look on her face. Ever since the trip had begun, Hatoko found herself peering around corners, and looking over her shoulder at every turn. Although she wanted Misaki to enjoy herself, she on the other hand had decided to use all her power to make sure that her best friend stayed safe. If one of those creepy sins came anywhere close to Misaki, she'd clobber them her self. She didn't care how strong they were.

" They wont lay a hand on my Misaki." the one offset was she had lost quite a bit of sleep worrying, and had instead been taking a series of short naps throughout the week, with little benefit to her. She trudged along regardless though putting on her best face, or at least the best she could muster with the little energy she had left in her.

Troubles aside, they group walked on till the sun hit high noon, and the broke out into an open field, where they meet a dirt road leading to a bus stop. Kotaro pointed to the road map sitting in the rusty frame beneath the sign.

"The bus will be up here in about twenty minutes or so. Our aunt Hoshino, said she would come and meet us. So all we can do from here is wait." everyone sighed, looking forward to a moment to rest after the long walk just to get t the bus stop. Hatoko sat herself on the wooden bench, as the old wood squeaked at the added weight. Her feet were aching, and worse she felt a headache coming on. Her sleeplessness was catching up with her. As she was rubbing her temples in a vain attempt to dull the throbbing, she felt a gentle set of hands fall on her shoulders.

Sure enough it was Misaki, a look of deep concern on her face.

"Hatoko, are you okay? You dont look too well, are you feeling sick, is it heatstroke? Do you need a doctor?!" As usual, Misaki's fussing had a way of making a person feel cared for, if not somewhat overwhelmed by her mother hen complex. Hatoko felt a smile curve her lips up despite her headache as she let her head fall forward to rest on her best friends chest.

"I'm okay, just tired I guess. The first thing i'm gonna do when we get there is fall into the nearest bed and sleep for a whole day. But what about you, how are you doing?" Misaki smiled as she hugged Hatoko a little closer to her.

"I guess i'm alright, I just need to keep my mind off the things that worry me. Thats why I came all the way here after all, to escape the hustle and bustle of everything. Even if it's only for a little while, I wanna forget my problems."

_meanwhile..._

many miles off, under the boiling sun of the after noon, a lone and very angry figure could be seen trudging through a field covered in haystacks. His once long sleek black hair, had re-curled itself a bit, and it could be seen that the black dye was running a little, along with his makeup as he sweat.

The long over coat he had been wearing was now hung over one shoulder and his long dress sleeves were rolled up, revealing several tattoos running up his arm, one was a Celtic cross running intricately up to his right elbow. The other one was a large green Letter G done in an a curvy style on his left bicep.

It was none other than gluttony, stamping along swearing to himself every few seconds as he stopped to wipe the sweat from his forehead, only to find little trails of hair dye running down them. If someone was to get close enough they would be able to here him shouting out in English. English with a very thick accent that could have been British or Irish by the sound of it.

"Bloody hell!! the bunch of bastards don't 'ave' the common sense to send a car! No will just 'ave little glutty pop over to Bloody Hokkaido, with an economy class train ticket. Oh avey if I ever get me hands around that scrawny neck of yer's I'll ring it from here to the isle of whales!!"

_back with our heroes...._

the sun dragged itself lazily through the sky, as the four children sat on the bench underneath the roof of the bus stop shelter, offering only a bit of shade in the situation. Kotaro leaned back watching a fly buzz back and forth with no real destination, Tamo flipped through the pages of a wrestling magazine laughing to herself every now and again, and both Misaki and Hatoko were leaning against each other, snoozing in the drowsy heat of the afternoon.

Just when the so called twenty minutes was just stretching on to about forty or so, the rumbling of an old engine startled the group from it's stupor. From over the horizon a rusty old pickup truck could be made out, and shortly after it the bus they had been waiting for. With a sigh of relief they all stood up and looked on in anticipation.

As Misaki strained her eye's into the distance she caught a glimpse of something odd from the corner of her eyes. Although it was going rather fast she was able to just make out someone in the bed of the passing truck. He was a very tired looking person with greasy looking hair that was black on the ends but a light brown on top, and and a bunch of tattoos running up his arms. But she didn't have time to think about it as the bus pulled into the stop and the rusty doors opened with a creeeeak.

Slowly a short, old woman made her way down each step, an old walking stick meeting the ground in front of her. Her steel gray hair was tied in a tight bun, and she wore and old dusty kimono. She had to be at least in her sixties by the looks of her. Both Kotaro and Hatoko ran up to meet the grizzled old woman and hugged her each in turn.

"Great aunt Hoshino! We thought you'd never get here." the old woman just cackled to her self and patted Kotaro on the head.

"Ha! You don't get to be as old as me by rushing, whittles years off the life... now than lets get a look at the two of you." She dug into her pocket book and retrieved a pair of huge glasses so she could get a better look around her, and Miskai could have sworn that the lenses were at least an inch thick. After sizing them up with the usual "oh you've gotten so big" routine she turned sharply to face Misaki and Tamo. She stared for about five seconds before she turned to face Kotaro.

"Well than, lets me guess, still to shy to have asked either to marry you yet?" Kotaro sighed at the statement obviously having expected it.

"for the last time aunty I don't plan on being married for a long time." Tamo just laughed while Misaki blushed madly at the comment. But both went ramrod straight when the old woman turned her gaze back to them, humming to herself until she pointed to each in turn, starting with Tamo.

"Hmm, you defiantly have the build that says you would bear good children, very important. And you deary (she turned to Misaki) have that special air of gentleness that's oh so important in a good wife. Hmph, hard choice Kotaro, given the choice I would say marry the first one, she seems more resilient." both Tamo, and Misaki could just stand there, their mouths open as the old woman sized them up like cuts of meat. Kotaro for his part just stood there stammering trying to convince his aunt that marriage wasn't in the cards for a long time now. Hatoko for her part just stood there giggling at the spectacle.

After much protesting form Kotaro, Old hoshino finally gave up and ushered them all onto the bus. With another long creak the doors shut and they were off down the road towards the village that the inn was located in. somehow, it felt kind of like the beginning of an adventure to Misaki as he settled in between Hatoko and Old Hoshino on the cheap leather seat. For some reason she felt an air of excitement building up in her. It was going to be a good time, she just knew it!

_About ten minutes earlier_

"Oy! Pal thanks for this, I owe you big." Gluttony sat in the bed of the old truck, yelling over the wind into the back window at the diver, who yelled back.

"It's no problem, not every day you meet someone dressed as fancy as you just wandering the fields, let along get payed to do some driving around."as they spoke they rushed past a lone bus stop, and a few blurs which must have been people waiting for the bus. But Gluttony didn't have the time to notice them as he yelled back thought the window again.

"Yep, and you get the second half when you get me to the town south of here, like I said I have something i'm picking up. I was wondering if you mind a fitting someone in the passenger seat with you when we get there, they wont be able to ride in the back with me." the driver just gave a thumbs up to signify he understood and drove on in the opposite direction of Misaki's bus.

" so far so good, this is going better than I thought. I'll just tell avarice to write off my truck ride as a business expense, he'll love that. Now I just have to check up on the home-base." Gluttony fished out his cell phone and frowned to see he had no signal out here and put it back in his pocket.

"hope they got that meeting over with, we got to get everybody up to speed if we want to start phase two soon."

_back in tokyo...._

An old man stared out of the window of the top floor of a rather tall building, drumming his fingers on the glass. He was dressed in a tuxedo of sorts, with a stiff collar and a cape. Crowning his long white hair was a black top hat, and his mustache and beard were pointed out as if gelled. He gave the impression of an ancient vampire from an old horror film.

His quite starring was broken by the sound of someone pounding at the door into the apartment, for apartment it was, and the window looked out straight at the huge angelic layer arena. Without looking up he sighed and yelled out at whoever was knocking.

"It's open, come in." The door flew open as the short Wrath marched in, past the door which now bore a boot print roughly the size of wrath's foot. After her walked in the tall blond woman that had been with her in the car, her tight leather dress glistening in the light of candles that were burning on a large circular table in the center of the room. After her Envy trudged in, an icepack over his forehead.

"Are we all here yet avarice?" Envy did his best not to talk loudly as he sat at a seat bearing the words envy on the top of the chair's back, Wrath was already in her own seat, and the tall blond beauty was now firmly settled beside her in the chair marked Lust. Avarice just turned his head and shook it to show that they where the only ones to have arrived so far.

"Pride is late as always, and Gluttony is still in Hokkaido. He will be back in a few days or so with Sloth in tow, so we can start with out them." Just as the old man took his own seat, the door opened again, the person there not bothering to knock. The late comer in question was very tall, and very pale. He wore a blue suit and tie, and not a single fiber was out of place. His somewhat boyish face was framed by a pair of small round glasses and the bangs of his rather long silky smooth red hair. Each hand was dressed in a leather glove fitting perfectly and his shoes where polished till they gleamed.

Without a word he sat himself down in the chair marked for pride and smiled at the lot of them, who said nothing, obviously used to this behavior. it was envy who broke the silence finally.

"Well hello pride, I see you have a new outfit...again...." Pride smiled at him, a playful glint in his eye's

"Indeed Envy, I felt it necessary once you started to copy the outfits I was wearing. I can only really look my best, when it's _**only**_ me looking my best." he smiled again at the whole group before cracking his knuckles and leaning back in his seat.

"So whats the agenda?" Avarice raised an eyebrow in amusement as he looked over a stack of papers on the table I front of his chair.

"Well, if I have this garbled pile of instructions from Gluttony right, than we start phase two of the operation in about one month or so. As you know, phase one was the use of mass media to spread word to the champions of angelic layer. This fell to me and gluttony. Now phase two involves all of us working together. Now I trust you've been scouting our targets as asked? Seeing as we have everything we need information wise, it's time to move on.......(CRASH!!!)

Before avarice could finish, Wrath had taken her fist and driven it down into the table, leaving a sizable dent in the polished wood.

"Damn it just tell us what to do already!!!" Avarice straightened his hat and nodded, not wanting to make her any angrier.

"well basically it's up to use to go out and stir up as many duelists as we can. Hit every piffle princess, every arena, and every dive bar with a betting layer in it. The more we beat on the street the more word spreads about us. This puts seeds of doubt in the champions if we already have a large number of wins under our belts." Wraith grinned widely.

"Easy enough. Fine if thats all than i'm out of here to get started." Not waiting for a response she stood up and motioned for lust to follow after her. Avarice nodded to let them know that yes the meeting was technically over, and the two women left them quickly.

Pride for his part was looking at his reflection in the highly polished table as he smoothed his hair out. While envy ran his hands through his own short hair as he looked over at prides in obvious frustration at not having more on his own head. Avarice just shook his head as he stood up and returned to the window he had been standing at, he hated these meetings, but it beat his old job either way...

_back to Hokkaido now..._

As they finally dropped their bags in the entry hall of the small inn, Misaki felt as if she had just let go of a hundred pound barbell. She was beat, the trip had taken more out of her than she thought. Once old Hoshino had pointed out the rooms they would be using she made a B-line for the closest bad and fell backwards onto it. Not long after Hatoko found her and with a little jump, was on the bed beside her, face down in the mattress.

Without moving her face from the sheet Hatoko mumbled up at Misaki.

"To tired to find my own, room. Is it okay if I just lay her tonight?" Misaki was far to tired to even respond, but gave her friend a pat on the head with what strength she had left to let her know it was okay. Never in her days had Misaki remembered going to bed with out changing into her pajamas, but she just couldn't stay up any longer, and so she drifted off into slumber, with her best friend beside her.

_Meanwhile..._

It was with difficulty that Gluttony loaded the wheel chair into the back of the truck bed, using the moonlight as best he could to coordinate. Once he had finished he jumped back into the bed himself and knocked on the window to let the driver know it was time to go. As they drove off, Gluttony looked through the tiny back window at the small boy now sleeping in the passenger seat, his tussled black hair shacking about in the wind coming in from his window.

Gluttony leaned back and sighed to himself, finally having finished his errand.

"_look out Tokyo, it's fun time as soon as I get back."_

_to be continued......_


	6. Chapter 6

_Evening all, or morning....or afternoon. Whatever timezone you inhabit... it is I Loss of reality. It seems I am able to dedicate myself to my love once again despite my long forced hiatus. Although my last chapter was more like an appetizer than anything. So I have decided to make this one my triumphant return chapter. Expect better things to come. (L.O.R)_

Angelic layer, the seven sins saga chapter 6: The burning feathers.

It was probably one of the seedier parts of Tokyo indeed, but both Envy and Avarice walked the streets without fear. The two spoke not a single word to each other as the paced slowly down the cracked sidewalk, drawing stares as they did. It was no surprise though, Avarice was still garbed in his tuxedo and cape, walking with a long cane that was topped by a handle shaped like a sphere with the symbol for the Japanese yen engraved on one side,along with the British pound, the American dollar, and for some reason or other a skull on the very front of it.

Envy for his part just gave an intimidating presence. He stood tall on high black boots, commonly worn by Goths, the buckles running up it done tightly. Over his robust frame he wore a long London fog jacket, with all the straps undone, and beneath it a sleeveless white shirt, and worn out blue jeans.

People on the street gave them wide berth as they walked along until Avarice stopped and pointed towards what appeared to be a nightclub, with a long line of young trendy people waiting to be let in by the bouncer. Avarice and Envy walked right to the front of the line, and stopped right in front of the muscular bouncer. Avarice slammed his cane to the ground and with out saying a word tossed a small rolled up wad to the large man, which turned out to be a roll of money, and without question he stepped aside and let the two in as he fingered through the bills counting his haul.

Once inside they were quick to find a seat in the far back, and simply waited there for ten minutes, showing no interest in the flashing lights, loud music or pretty girls. They weren't here for fun, no they had bigger fish to fry. After a few drinks, (wine for avarice and several beers for Envy) the lights dimmed and a voice could be heard over the speakers.

"Ladies, and gentleman!!! it's ten in the evening and you know what that means today!!! it's time to place your bets on.... ANGELIC LAYER!!!!!"

As the voice rang out, the dance floor cleared, and from the ceiling descended a layer with two duelist chairs. Dry ice was being pumped onto the floor, and people where cheering as the layer settled on the ground, and a list of competitors that where playing tonight appeared on a giant screen, as the patrons of the club began placing bets on a computer screen at each table. Envy and Avarice simply smiled and waited.

Within ten minutes the first competitors where up, a local punk, and one of the waitresses of the bar. It wasn't long before the battles where fully under way, and after an hour of shouts and heated betting, the loud voice once again drowned out all other noise over the speaker.

"Alllllll right, angelic layer fans. It's time for open layer hour, where you, the customers can challenge the champion of Club Z. The undefeated favorite on the betting roster, the one, the only.... FIRE LORD!!!!"

The champion in question stood there looking smug, his red dyed hair was spiked to look like flames, and his angel stood on the layer in the same confident pose. It had the same hair style as its duelist, and wore he wore a tight red leotard. To finish the bright red angel was a set of boots that appeared to be armed with blades, an addition that was banned on the official circuit, explaining why he was playing in a bar instead of an arena.

Without waiting, Envy stood up and walked up to the layer, and slammed his hand down an the duelist chair.

"I challenge you, and I was wondering if you'd like to make it interesting?" The so called fire lord raised and eyebrow at the large man and smiled.

"Fine, what ya have in mind tall dark and gruesome?" Envy didn't say anything for a moment as he dug a bundle of black cloth for his coat, along with an angel visor. When he finally had his equipment out he turned to face the bar champ and yelled out so every one could hear.

"If you win, you get 100,000 yen. If I win I get your angel." The red headed duelist took a moment to think before he nodded his head.

"Fine lurch, its on. But I warn you, I'm leaving here a richer man tonight. Lets do this!" the two of them sat at their respective ends of the layer, and the fire lord put on his visor and tossed his angel into the field.

"Go with fires of passion and battle on, Ember!!" The bright red angel landed with a little flip and bowed to the cheering audience. Envy looked unimpressed as he unwrapped the roll of black cloth to reveal his angel.

It was a rather heavy set looking creation, appearing as if it opted for power over speed. It was dressed in a similar London fog jacket as Envy's, only buttoned and strapped closed, and on on it's head it wore a fedora. On the whole it looked like a tiny detective from the old crime shows. There was one aspect off about the angel though.

It had no face.

Where there should have been a face was just a black head. No eyes or ears or mouth. As if it was wearing a mask of black fabric. Envy held it up and made ready to cast it onto the layer.

"Take all that lies before us as our own. Go forth Overshadow!!!"

The angel landed firmly on it's feet and looked forward with it's blank face at Ember, his opponent. The champ just looked at it in confusion, but shook it of when the announcer yelled the usual "Angelic Fight!!" to begin the battle. Ember charged forward at full speed, in hoped of knocking out the competitor before he could react. With amazing aim he kicked forward, the blades on his boots sure to rip through this newcomer with out trouble.

Just as his foot seemed to have made contact though, Overshadow was nowhere to be seen, for he had somehow come up behind the fast fire angel. With little effort he pushed forward with his right hand and used Embers own momentum to send him over the edge of the Layer.

What was surly a set win though only became confusing as Overshadow than took hold of Ember just as he was ready to go over the edge. Envy was grinning like mad now.

"I'm not done playing with you just yet, time to take it up a level." As he spoke, he pressed a button on the side his visor that he had used instead of the layers own Angel visor. As soon as he had done that, on the Layer Overshadow jumped up, with Ember firmly held in a pile driver position. As he came crashing down, no one was really sure what had happened. With one slam into the ground, Ember was lying there, it's arms twisted in the wrong direction, and The fire lord laying back in his chair.

The second Ember had impacted the ground, he had suddenly begun screaming bloody murder, and than slumped back, his eye's blank and foaming at the mouth a bit. Envy just stood up and without a word picked up both his angel and ember and pocketed them both. At this point The bar duelist was coming too as Envy walked past his chair and whispered to him.

"Your minds way to easy to get into. I was hoping for a better play toy honestly, but I suppose it was too be expected from a wanna be duelist playing for chump change in a hole like this."

Not waiting for the announcer to call the victory he had his hand out for the prize money, after which Envy motioned to Avarice to hurry up. Just they were ready to leave, Envy suddenly remembered something and removed a card from his pocket and tossed it to the former champ.

_The sin of Envy claims this victory. Let this be a warning to all of heavens angels._

Yours truly Envy of the seven sin assassins

As Avarice and Envy walked down the street, Envy suddenly stopped and ran into a back alley, where Avarice could hear him vomiting for a good three minutes before he sulked back, his face pale and his eye's blood shot. Avarice seemed oddly unconcerned though.

"I take it that the system still needs work? I thought you got that problem fixed." Envy just flicked the old man off as they begun walking again.

"Look, it isn't perfect yet. Besides I was a little drunk, I didn't have all my focus on it. Once we perfect the force feedback system, we'll be unstoppable. As for right now...it feels like I got hit in the head by a horde of vikings riding on sharks....made of concrete. Hmm, didn't win as much as I hoped either, probably only 10,000 yen here."

Avarice made no comment of Envy's odd viking statement but simply shook his head. Sometimes he really didn't understand the young.

_In Hokkaido_

Misaki woke up with a loud yawn, stretching her back. She felt refreshed, and fell back on the bed, feeling a large lump beside her under the covers. She pulled them back to reveal Hatoko, curled into a little ball, trying to make up for the loss of Misaki's body heat beside her as she slumbered. Misaki looked up at the clock and realized it was still far too early to be out of bed, it was only six in the morning.

She lay back, not wanting to wake Hatoko, and stared out the window at the slowly growing light in the distance, as the sun rose steadily in the east. It was her first morning in Hokkaido, and she wanted to make the most of here time. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to do with her first day.

"I wonder what I should do today... oh I haven't had time off in so long, that I can't even remember how to enjoy myself. Thats it!!! today is Misaki's special lazy day. I'm just going to rest, no worries about anything at all."

As Misaki made her mental declaration, she was startled by something wrapping itself around her waist. She was barely able to stifle her shout of surprise, and remembered she wasn't the only one in the bed. Hatoko had somehow managed to get her arms completely around Misaki as she slept, and Misaki could feel her little heart beat next her body. Nothing felt like it could go wrong for her today, absolutely nothing.

_Back at angelic layer HQ.._

"Please, please please. I'm begging you, just give me the information!!" Icchan was pacing back and forth, a phone held between his shoulder and his head, and as clipboard in his hands. It was two moths until the new angelic layer season began, and he had yet to finish all his prep work for both the Kansai, and Kanto regional preliminaries. Even worse he still had part of his team (meaning just Ogata) working on his information hunt on the seven sin assassins.

Needless to say, he was swamped, and hadn't had a good nights rest in some days. Currently he was on the phone with the head of the European branch, it seems an old file had been located on the angel card of one mister Johnny sandsteel and they were a bit hesitant to send their information all the way to headquarters in Asia.

"Look, it's not that we don't want to give it too you, but for some reason it's the only copy we have. Theres no digital copy of this file anywhere, just this folder and a few tapes of his fights that were recorded by local newsgroups. Just give us some time to put the information back in the database, than we will send it too you." Icchan had no choice but to agree and hung up the phone, feeling depressed as he looked over his mountain of paper work that had built up on his desk.

"Damn it!! now isn't the time for this. Tell me, Johnny what your planning, and why is that young man from Ireland using your name on his angel card. I didn't think you would seriously do something as dumb as this.... god I should have known better. I should have moved to have you banned from the whole of neurology.... erg now isn't the time to be stressing. I just hope _he_ gets there soon. I told him to leave for Hokkaido a day ago. If he didn't get lost he should arrive today."

Icchan sighed into his cupped hands and let his head rest on his desk for as moment before getting back up and beginning his paper work.

_Meanwhile...._

Misaki was patient for only so long, and soon she was up and about hunting around the old inn. The whole of the building was in traditional Japaneses style, having been built before world war two. The old wood walls held a sort of charm that can only be found in such buildings of that age, and the court yard held a magnificent garden. Being the off season there was no guests a the moment aside from Misaki and the others, giving it a sort of calming silence.

Not wanting to wake anyone though, Misaki was sure to move as quietly as possible. It wasn't until she saw a very short, and bent old man, Kotaro's great uncle of course, that the silence of the morning was broken. He was walking up the porch into the main dining hall, mumbling as he went, his wrinkled old face looking similar to a walnut as he spoke to no one in particular. Misaki cheerfully waved to him and greeted him with a small bow.

"Good morning sir, how are you today?" The old man looked startled to be spoken to so early and a tad bit confused in general as he looked around until he spotted Misaki.

"Wha-!? Who said that? Oh, hello...ummm do I know you? Wait better you don't answer that just in case I do. I'd rather remember on my own. But I hope that.... where was I going?"

Misaki couldn't quite understand what to make of the strange old man until Old Hoshino appeared beside her, almost out of no where brandishing her cane.

"Don't mind him, he isn't as senile as he looks, he just does that so pretty young woman will feel sorry for him. Ya hear that ya old coot, no ones buying it!!"

Kotaro's uncle immediately stopped looking confused and yelled back to his wife.

"You old bat!! you never let me have any fun. At least I might have gotten the pretty girl to hold my hand up the stairs, but nope."

Misaki just looked back and forth between the old couple laughing to her self as they argued back and forth until she decided it was best to leave them be. She could still hear Old Hoshino yelling as she walked away.

"Perverted old man, why did I even marry you??"

"Because I said yes, you old prune!!"

The slight excitement of the quarreling old couple aside, Misaki was off to explore the rest of the inn. As the sun rose higher she soon heard the heavy steps of none other than Tamo-chan, who was quick to catch Misaki in a good morning hug.

"Misaki-chi!!! it's a glorious morning, I don't want to waste a minute of it. Come on, come on, you get Hatoko up, and I'll rustle up Kotaro.

It wasn't long before every one was accounted for, and after a good breakfast, the group decided it was going to go down by the lake today. A day with bright sunshine like this was perfect for swimming, they all had there swim suits ready in a flash.

Just as Misaki was getting ready to change a loud knock was heard at the front of the inn, and Old Hoshino was there as quick as lighting. For an old woman who didn't believe in rushing, she could move about rather fast. Out of sheer curiosity, Misaki peeked out of her room, and suddenly Squeaked in surprise before going back in and shutting the door.

Oujiro was standing in the door way, wearing a sleeveless white shirt and slacks, and carrying a map. He looked very tiered, and more than a little annoyed. After a quick discussion with Old Hoshino he was ushered in, and his bags dropped in the entry way as he breathed a sigh of relief. As Misaki hid though, she heard Hatoko in the entry way, speaking with the older boy.

"Misaki? She's here...don't tell me you came all the way here for just her?" Misaki wasn't able to here what Oujiro was saying back, but not long after the door to her room slide open and Hatoko flew in, wrapping her arms around Misaki's waist In a protective manner.

"Whats wrong Hatoko? What did Oujiro say?"

"He said, Icchan told him to take a vacation... and that means I don't get you to myself this week, so I'm getting what I can while I can."

Sometimes Hatoko ha an adorable way of showing her age, and oddly it made Misaki feel very happy that her friends thought so much of her. Besides, the more the merrier, one more person meant just that much more fun.

_Two days ago at angelic layer HQ......_

"you want me to do what now?"

Oujiro was looking over some his brothers paper work, trying to determine how he intended to have all this done in time for the kanto regional tournament. Said brother was currently at his desk with his hands clasped together, showing signs of fatigue. Icchan's usually bubbly nature was all but dead, and he was sporting a ruff patch of facial hair that made him look at least ten years older than he was.

"I want you to take some time off and go join Suzuhara-san in Hokkaido. You need to take a break as much as the other champions, plus, I'll have a set of eye's on both her and Hatoko. We can't afford to leave a single stone unchecked lately. It would do me a world of good to know that I had someone responsible keeping an eye on them."

Oujiro just looked annoyed.

"It's not that I mind, but I wouldn't be as worried myself if you would just tell me what you know about all this mess."

Icchan just shook his head and glared out the window at the sky, storm clouds were drawing over the city, and they cast large shadows over the pavement below. The clouds themselves where twisting and billowing in a myriad of shapes, depending on ones imagination.

But all Icchan could see was a great undulating demon, consuming the sky, as if to spite nature's beauty. The smaller massing clouds seeming to take shape of a great procession of nightmarish beats, following the one great beast on it's path of destruction.

"No... not just yet. Soon though, than we can talk about it. Maybe..."

…....

And so, despite any arguments he may have had, Oujiro found himself in Hokkaido. Truthfully it wasn't such a bad thing in his mind, he just had to learn to put his annoyances aside and enjoy himself for a little while.

It wasn't, of course until Misaki came out of the hallway, that he felt the trip was suddenly worth while. She stood nervously in the entry way, her face a light red from both a recent tan from the walk to the inn and a slight blush of embarrassment. She had finished changing into her bathing suit, a blue one piece, and stood there with a towel over her shoulder, trying figure out what to say to the unexpected arrival.

"Umm...He-hello, Oujiro-san.... how are you doing?"

Oujiro for his part, had not been expecting Misaki in a swimsuit of all things and found himself somewhat lost for words. She was undeniably cute, it would take a person being blind, deaf and dumb to miss that. But that didn't mean he knew exactly how he felt about it. After all a man is still a man, no matter how gentlemanly on the outside he man appear. But he wasn't some one who let himself be driven by his emotions like so many impetuous people in the world.

"Hello Suzuhara-san...I'm fine, what about- I mean to say- er... how are things?"

Inside Oujiro was mentally punching himself, one thing he hated was being tongue tied, it made him feel like he was losing control of himself. Unbeknown to either of them, just across the way, hidden around a corner, was Tamo, Kotaro, and Hatoko. Each in turn was straining to hear what was happening, except for Kotaro who was both, uninterested and half asleep still.

"Hmm, Hatoko-chan, are you sure that Oujiro is gonna try something while he's here? I bet he gets all the chances he could hope for,and chickens out each time, just like all men do." Tamo seemed oddly confident in her theory, while Hatoko just puffed up indignantly as Kotaro sneaked away as they were arguing to eat breakfast.

"I'm telling you he has that lovely-dovey look. He came all the way here for a reason, and I can beat you that reason is Misaki. He won't give up an opportunity like this." Tamo nodded in agreement.

"Makes sense, but the two of them are so slow to get things moving....ehheehehehehe....Hatoko-chan...i just had a really great idea. It helps Misaki, and gives us something fun to do at the same time."

Tamo bent down and began whispering in Hatoko's ear, as they both were soon sporting huge evil grins giggling like hyenas. Something indeed interesting was on their minds....

_meanwhile, in Tokyo...._

The Pifle princess was buzzing with spectators, many of which where fighting to get upstairs into the training Layer floor. It had been awhile since they had seen something like this. The head of an Angelic layer enthusiast club from downtown Tokyo was preparing to take on a rather curious challenger. She sat there with her angel visor on, sporting large glasses, and a t-shirt that read, my life for the Layer. Her mussy brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and the rest of her club stood behind her cheering.

In the seat opposite from her was a very tall, very pale and handsome man, with long smooth red hair, and round glasses framing his features. It was Pride, and standing behind him was both Lust, and Wrath. One of the main reasons for the large crowd was that it was mostly woman and girls, (and a few men) come to get a good look at the rather charming Pride.

He was seated, with his legs crossed, and a bright smile on his face. He was also feeling a bit flashy today and had opted for a very complex outfit.

He was wearing tall knee-high boots, that laced all the way up, with his black pants tucked into the tops of them. Keeping with no apparent theme his shirt was a double breasted red jacket all buttoned up, and at the end of each sleeve a was a set of clean white kid gloves over each hand. Out from the neck of the jacket was a tall black collar, most likely from his under shirt, that covered the sides of his face from view. Meaning you would have to be right in front of him to see his face.

He beamed at his opponent and put on his angel visor, preparing to start the duel.

"Please, my dear, ladies first, we will start when your ready."

Prides words where smooth and at the same time menacing, like poisoned honey. Undaunted though, his opposition held her angel high and made her entrance into the layer.

"Go now, on wings of victory!! Fight on Holly!"

her angel landed in the layer and took a dramatic pose showing off it's features. Holly was decked out in the latest Angelic layer equipment, and by the looks of her was probably one of the newer models. Pride seemed unimpressed. With a dismissive toss, he sent his angel into the Layer.

"Shine with beauty in all our conquests, Go Raphael."

Raphael landed with a twist, and stood perfectly poised and prepared. He seemed almost a tiny version of Pride as far as facial and body structure went, the only difference was in his attire. Raphael was clad in what appeared to be an equestrian outfit, fully equipped with a riding crop on his belt., and tall black boots.

"ANGELIC FIGHT!!!"

The duel had begun. Holly dashed around the sides of the layer, waiting and watching for Raphael to make a move. Not wanting to disappoint Raphael began his attack swiftly, moving with ease and grace and soon the audience was caught in the spectacle of the battle. All went well for the first few minutes, and both duelists seemed evenly matched for the most part.

That was until somewhere in the middle of things, Pride pushed a small button on his visor. With a flip, Raphael bounced off of Holly's head and went into the air, apparently readying himself for an aerial attack. What no one noticed though, was that at the pinnacle of his jump, the dashing angel looked forward to make direct eye contact with the controller of holly.

The girl for her part was uncertain of what happened. All she knew was that for the split second that Raphael looked her in the eyes, nothing else in the universe mattered suddenly. The only thing worth any thing was Raphael, and watching his every move as if her life depended on it.

Even as Prides angel came down with a crushing kick to Holly's head that depleted her power and sent her out of the Layer, she couldn't stop watching. As if terrible things would happen If Raphael didn't have her undivided attention.

Even as Pride, lust, and Wrath left the pifle princess, she just sat there in her chair, her breathing shallow, and her face blushed. In her hand was an autographed picture of pride with a red rose tapped to the back, along with a message

_You have just been charmed by the sin of pride, this victory goes to the seven sin assassins._

_(P.S. Your hair style is a bit to nineties. I would consider changing it)_

once outside the three of them loaded up into a sleek car and an unseen driver shuttled them off down the street. Lust was the first to break the silence as the rode.

"Well this is going well. If we can keep up this lucky streak, phase two will be a complete success." Pride nodded in agreement as he straightened out his hair in the reflection of the tinted window. Wrath just sat there, her arms crossed, leaning against Lusts shoulder feeling no need to speak. Pride finally finished his grooming and turned to face the two with a mischievous smile.

"What I want to know is what's the bosses interest in the little girl champion. She's good, but she isn't any use to us directly. It's hard to tell what he's thinking, seeing as he relays all his orders through Mister big shot Gluttony."

The mention of their fellow sin seemed to send an awkward silence over the conversation, broken only by Wrath sneezing, who for some reason or other at this point had started using Lusts lap as a pillow. Lust for her part simply stroked the younger girls hair, in a slow, motherly fashion. Lust was again the first to start the conversation up.

"No telling Pride. I think the best thing to do for now is to wait and see. What else can we do? I'm sure both the boss and Gluttony have a good reason for their Eccentric natures."

Pride just shrugged and went back to looking at his reflection in the car window, not really caring. Lust, seeing no point in talking any more abut it, went back to fussing with Wrath's hair, than moving to light strokes up and down her neck with her long nails.

As she did that though, she started out the window at the city and sighed, she had the distinct feeling that it wasn't going to be any were as easy as they hoped it would be.

_Somewhere in the country side._

Gluttony sneezed suddenly, the feeling of being watched at the back of his mind as he was tearing through a huge bowl of noodled in front of him, his chopsticks half way to his mouth. He was seated on the stool of a street side noodle cart, in a small town that he couldn't pronounce the name off. One thing he could never get right was the pronunciation of many Japanese words. That was the reason his speech sounded forced most of the time, as he had to strain to remember if he had the word right.

As he continued his meal, he felt a tug on his sleeve, once again forcing him to stop with the chopsticks just up to his mouth. He looked down trying his best not to seem frustrated.

"Yes, Sloth? What is it, aren't you going to finish your food?"

Next to him was a rather frail looking child, bundled up in a thick sweater. Gluttony was forced to look down to speak due to the fact that he was in a wheel chair, and therefore unable to use the stools on the cart. He looked very weak, and one wouldn't have been able to tell whether he was either boy or girl until he spoke up in a small tiered voice.

"You forget, my stomach isn't as big as most peoples, let alone keeping up with you. I'm full. But now that where on the way home, I was hoping you could tell me when I get see it?"

Gluttony strained for a moment to recall what the boy was talking about until he had a remembered and slurped up the noodle hanging from his lips so he could speak.

"Your new angel right? It should be ready by now. I couldn't bring it with me as you see, so it's probably been sent to Avarice for safe keeping. But you needn't worry about that for right now. As soon as we get to Tokyo I'll give it to you, than we can start having fun... so... are you sure you okay to be out of the hospital now? I know how tiered you get from little things, I wouldn't want you to over do it. If you feel like you want to go back, we won't hold it against you."

Sloth just smiled and shook his head.

"Silly Johnny, why would I go back. This is the most I've gotten to do in the last five years. Say , by the way, how did you get the hospital to release me any way?"

Gluttony just smiled and ruffled sloth's hair.

"Thats a secret, also, just call me Gluttony. I dropped being "Johnny" a long time ago."

"Hehehe, your so silly sometimes Gluttony."

"Whatever, now let me finish eating...."

_back to Hokkaido now...._

The once four, now five, friends found themselves walking down the road, the sun shining down warmly on them. A light breeze picked up and rustled the grass along the path in a sort of dance to celebrate the sunny day, Misaki loved to watch the grass sway, it always relaxed her.

Unfortunately for her today, her mind was to preoccupied to focus on the natural beauty around her as they trekked towards the lake. Now that Oujiro was here she felt very tense. One of the problems she had been hoping to leave behind her when she left was her feelings about him.

She liked him, no doubt. But she wasn't sure what sort of like it was. Did she like him or _like him, like him._ It was hard to say, and she didn't ant to stress over it now, although she couldn't help it.She looked down at her tote bag, Hikaru was sticking out of the top staring ahead. Misaki felt more confident just having her angel near, Hikaru was her courage made real. A physical thing she could use to help her be brave.

All she had to do was remember that she had an angel with her at all times, and there was no way she cloud lose.

She was snapped from her thoughts by the feeling of cool sand at her feet, and looked up to see a glimmering lake in front of her. It's cool water inviting all to enter and enjoy. Without hesitation the children set up for the day, putting up several large beach umbrellas and laying some very big towels. Soon enough, Tamo and Kotaro where in the water, while Hatoko found a quite place to lay and drink up some sunshine.

Misaki for her part, was laying down a towel on the sand, and preparing to go join her friends in the water, when Oujiro approached her, a warm smile on his face.

"Well, Suzuhara-san, it's been sometime since we have been able to talk. I was wondering if you would mind taking a walk with me?"

Uncertain but still trying to be polite, she nodded her head and soon found her self walking side by side with Oujiro down the shore line of the lake.

Today felt as if it was going to be a a very confusing day for her. She began to feel rather nervous, and was fiddling her finger together trying to think of something to say. Before she could open her mouth though, Oujiro beat her to it. He seemed a bit uneasy as he spoke, which was rather unlike him in Misaki's eyes.

"Well, Suzuhara-san, I guess we have a bit of a mess on our hands back home. My brother is going crazy trying to organize the begging of the Angelic layer season, and everyone is ready to collapse at Headquarters. I know you probably don't want to hear about something depressing like this though."

As he spoke, Misaki was able to see a tiredness behind his usually calm eyes. He was just as troubled as everyone else. It was easy to see why Icchan would force him to take a break. She wasn't at all sure what to say or do to make him smile again, but she could at least try, she had to.

"Oujiro-san, I don't think it's depressing. You just need some time to clear your head thats all. I bet that after a few days f this clean air you'll be right as rain."

Oujiro gave her a small, but sincere smile as they walked along.

"I wish I could be as optimistic as you. I guess sometimes I get so busy trying to avoid the thorns that I miss the rose. Yes I really think I shouldn't give too much thought to work while I'm out here, our I'm likely to miss out on the fun."

Although Misaki missed it, as Oujiro was saying "rose" he gave her a sideways glance and a small blush lit up his face. He was rather thankful that she didn't seem to notice, and continued on in silence for a time.

….......

Right about the same time Both Misaki and Oujiro had left, Tamo had gotten out of the water and found her way beside Hatoko.

"Hey Hatoko-chan, there on the move. Should we begin setting up for our little operation?"

Hatoko was up in an instant and nodded as she ran to her tote bag and removed several filled water balloons.

"Okay, I filled like you asked, now tell me what your going to do."

Tamo gave an evil laugh as she pulled Hatoko close and whispered in her ear.

"It's really simple, part one involves getting them all flustered over each other. As it goes, Oujiro is a hard man to mess with, so for the time being I'm gonna work on getting Misaki's heart Thump-thumping over her "prince of the layer". Once we have her in the throes of passionate emotions, than we can do a little cupid work on Oujiro."

Tamo than took one of the water balloons and took careful aim.

"Here goes nothing Misaki!!! INCOMEING!!!!!"

With as hard a toss as she could muster, Tamo sent to water balloon flying. Of course her target wasn't actually Misaki, who only saw it sail by her head. With a huge splash, Oujiro stood there, the whole top half of his body soaked.

"Oopsy. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you Oujiro, you aren't even in a bathing suit. You had better get a towel."

Oujiro for his part was a good sport and couldn't help but laugh as he walked back to the umbrellas, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. Misaki was following after shaking her head at Tamo.

"Tamo-chan you need to be really careful. You might hurt someone if you throw it that hard. You should try to......to.."

Misaki was stopped short in her sentence at the sight in front of her. This wasn't the first time she had seen Oujiro shirtless, they had been to the beach together before with all the others. What was different now was that it seemed Oujiro had been very busy since last time. His once slender body had developed into a rather finely tuned set of muscle. His abs where noticeably firmer, and his biceps flexed as he bent his arms.

He had never been unhealthy, but seeing as he spent most of his time devoted to angelic layer he had little time to work out. But lately he had been expanding his area's of interest and had taken to working out in the company gym at angelic layer headquarters when he had nothing else to do.

The results spoke for themselves.

Both Tamo, and Hatoko had to stop themselves from staring as well, giving each other a highfive in celebration. The bait was being laid, and they didn't plan to stop until they had both Misaki and Oujiro on the hook of love. Misaki could only stare before she was forced to look away to hide the noticeable blush that seemed to spread over her entire body.

"I have the feeling this is going to be a very long vacation...."

_END CHAPTER SIX._

NOTES: longer chapter, but I get the feeling that the end is a bit abrupt. All I can say is bear with me. I'm always trying some new idea out, and they can get jumbled after awhile.


	7. Chapter 7

_Well hello my duckies. Tis I lossofreality back from the grave!!! you will notice I have the tendency to vanish for long periods f time between updates, but please understand I in no way have forsaken you. To prove it I give my latest chapter._

Angelic layer, the seven sins saga chapter 7: good morning subculture!!!

it was overcast and the morning streets were somewhat foggy, the simple sounds amplified by the Gray mist around them. As the fog thinned just the tiniest amount from the feeble light of the dull sky, a lone figure walked quietly through the alleyways till it stopped in front of a small door in the side of a huge brick building, and without hesitation shoved a vhs tape through the mail slot.

And as this happened, six other tapes found there way into six other mail slots just as the city began to awake.

The lone figure by the brick building removed a small cell phone from his pocket and dialled a number and waited for the other wend to pick up.

"This is Envy to home base, phase two is now officially under way." and than he hung up not waiting for an answer. The slightest rumble of thunder could be heard in the sky and as soon as it had finished echoing, Envy had vanished back into the mist.

_Back in Hokkaido..._

Misaki struggled with the sheets wrapped around her as she tossed in her sleep, something she hardly ever did. Her dreams were broken and confusing, except for the one in her mind at that very moment.

Se was floating in a dark space, the sound of the wind surrounding her and a cold icy feeling inching up her body. As her eyes focused she found herself surrounded by the figures of seven shapeless shadowy beings, their eyes glowing red.

She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out as her voice stopped at the back of her throat, and just the shadows began to advance, their clawed hands reaching to rip her apart, a beam of light broke through and the monsters stopped short and began inching away as the light grew. And finally from the source of the light the figure of a knight rushed forward into the fray of the shadows and with a single slash of his sword the beasts dispersed into mist.

Just as the knight turned to reveal himself to her though she felt something heavy hit her chest, and before she knew it she was awake, Hatoko, still dressed in her pajamas sitting on top of her.

"Good morning Misaki. You can't sleep all day you know. So come on, geeeeet up lazy."

With that she jumped off the bed, taking Misaki's blanket with her, so as to ensure that she got up. Seeing that she had no other choice, Misaki dragged her self from the bed and drowsily got dressed, wishing she could have just crawled back into the covers and sleep.

" I really don't feel up to being all energetic this morning... oh well, may as well see what everybody else is up too."

As she made her way out into the court yard and yawned a huge yawn in protest of being awake. The sky was overcast, and it looked like it was going to rain. Coincidentally, just as she noticed the sky, she heard the static sound of a voice coming over an old radio that Kotaro's uncle like to listen too rather loudly on account of his bad hearing.

"radar indicates that the freak storm forming off the coast will send heavy rain and winds towards most of japan and all residents are asked to take caution. The government is saying that because we have not seen a storm this large for sometime that extra precautions are to be taken until the storm passes."

Misaki couldn't help but wonder how strong this ancient inn was, and whether it could hold up against the strong winds. And now it seemed she had gotten out of bed for nothing as well, with rain coming, there was no point in being up and about.

Unfortunately she was wide awake now, with no chance of sleep. Just as she began arguing with herself on what to do she spotted Oujiro out of the corner of her eyes. He was on his cell phone with Icchan by the sound of it, but he sounded upset about something.

Even though she knew it was wrong, she found herself behind the corner out of his sight trying to hear what he was saying.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea. There rattled enough as it is. I think we should wait till we get Misaki, and Hatoko back to Tokyo before we discuss it."

Oujiro paused as Icchan responded and suddenly looked angry.

" well what do expect, your keeping me in the dark just as much as them!!! I dont have time for your mind games... no I don't care anymore, we can talk about it when I get back (_CLICK)_

Oujiro paced for near a minute than rushed off down the hallway towards his room slamming the door behind him. Misaki just stood where she was for a few seconds, than sighed. There was no way she could ignore this situation. It hurt her to see one of her friends upset.

After taking a few seconds to get her nerves under control she walked up to Oujiro's door, and cautiously knocked. It took a few seconds but the wooden panel door finally opened to reveal a very tired Oujiro, who seemed to brighten considerably when he saw Misaki.

"Oh um..... hi, I mean hello Suzuhara-san. How are you?" he seemed more fidgety than usual and Misaki could see he was obviously tense despite the smile on his face. She knew that even if she asked he wouldn't tell her what was wrong, but she could at least try to get him calmed down, he was supposed to be on vacation after all.

"Um, I'm, fine Oujiro-san. I thought we could mabye... umm... have a talk. It's been awhile since we got to sit down and have a conversation."

it was off the top of her head, but she was sure that was all she could think of. And Oujiro seemed rather glad at the idea of having some time to chat with her. With a gesture of his arm he motioned for her to come inside his room so they could talk, and Misaki found herself sitting on the edge of Oujiro's bed as he sat across from her in a stuffy looking arm chair.

Now that she was actually to this point, Misaki realized that she had no idea what she wanted to talk about. In fact she found it was difficult to just look at Oujiro without remembering yesterdays water balloon incident. Hoping that the blush on her face wasn't as bad as she thought, she decided to it would be better to try the small talk approach and go from their.

"So, have you been enjoying your time off?" Oujiro weighed the question for a second before answering, the sound of his voice making him seem skeptical of his own words.

"I suppose, I will admit i'm not used to doing this sort of thing on such short notice. But so far no complaints. Truthfully I have trouble being with groups of people sometimes, and was starting to feel tense. Im actually really glad to just have this sort of quite moment to relax and enjoy your company."

Oujiro really was glad like he said, but what he didn't want Misaki to know was how tense he really was. Of course now he was tense in a different way than before. It had taken him a few moments to think about it, but here he was, alone with Misaki as she sat on his bed look at him with the bright eyes shinning in concern.

Although she was a bit younger that him, he still couldn't help but feel his throat tighten in a sort of nervous panic when she smiled at him with such an innocent face. Trying his best to focus, Oujiros steeled his nerves and pressed forward in the conversation.

"What about you? I could see you were getting kind of burnt out lately before you came here. I guess it can be tiering being at the top of the layer huh?" Misaki thought about and gave him her usual smile.

"It can be, i'll admit I needed this a lot. With all that was going on back in Tokyo, the press, the getting swarmed at the piffle princess, the.... sins..." Her cheery disposition was suddenly as gray as the sky outside, and Oujiro was in a panic at what to do. He wasn't used to cheering people up. Just as he was struggling for the right words though something unexpected happened.

"MISAKI!!! you need to see this!!" it was Hatoko yelling from the other side of the inn, and in an instant both her and Oujiro were on their way to find out what the commotion was about. Hatoko, Kotaro, and Tamo were all staring at the small out of date T.V that the inn owned. A news broadcast was on and the anchor seemed rather amused.

"that's right received the tape just this morning, we think it delivered by the culprits themselves. And now we bring you the message left by the mysterious angelic layer enthusiasts known publicly as the seven sin assassins."

the screen went black for a second as the studio put the tape in, and soon a somewhat fuzzy video of several people standing in front of a picture of the Tokyo layer stadium.

The foremost figure was none other then Gluttony, this time sporting a rather laughable outfit. He was dressed head to foot in a canary yellow suit, his hair had been cut so it only reached to the back of his neck. Unfortunately due to what had to be a natural curliness, it jutted out to look like horns from the sides of his neck. His usual sunglasses were the same hideous color of yellow, and he looked more like some kind of comedian more that a threat.

Among the group Misaki also recognized the old man in the vampire tuxedo from one of the t.v screens in Tokyo. The rest where new to her though. One was a rather large and frightening individual in a strapped up London fog jacket, his hair slicked back, and a scowl on his face.

The next up was a pale red haired young man in a bright blue business suit with a tie and small glasses. He held a black rose in his teeth as he smiled at the camera. Right next to him was a short black haired girl in denim jacket and just behind her was a tall slender woman with glittering golden hair and red strapless dress, her tanned arms wrapped protectively around the small girls shoulders in front of her.

He final member was what could have been either a boy or a girl, in a wheelchair. The boy/girl was wearing a white dress, or what might have been a robe, with a huge red bow on the front of it. his/her balck hair was smoothed out and a little white bow crowned his/her head.

It was gluttony to speak up first.

"Good morning! This is an official greeting to you all from the seven sin assassins. For the past few days a few of us have been hitting several layers through out japan, and taking a victory each time. But this isn't about boasting, we are here to have a chat today." With this gluttony stood back and let the tall red haired man take the center.

"Ciao, to all you pretty senoras out there. I am Pride, now let me ask you all something. What does angelic layer mean to you? A big stadium, lights, and cheering crowd? This is just the dream, the illusion they pull over your eyes." Pride stepped back, and the old man stepped forward.

"I am Avarice, and I shall tell you something. It's all about greed, they have the technology to do so much, and what is it used for? To entertain gaggles of idiotic young girls, and people with no social time. We the sins though see the bigger picture, while they have you running back and forth for the latest angles they line their pockets." Envy stood up and pushed past the others looking straight at the camera.

"I am Envy, and we say to you, why support this monopolizing market, that wants to consume both the robotics and toy industry? Join the subculture! Be among the few to open your eyes and see the truth. They have the machines to make the world a better place and they use it for this. So we ask to all who would rather be part of our subculture than this lying society, support us in the upcoming tournaments. We intended to take the world of angelic layer by storm, and peel away the falsehoods they hold over you."

Gluttony pushed Envy roughly out of the way, sending him off balance and falling off the screen, and several other sins were chuckling the the background as this happened.

"this is the official challenge to all the top players of angelic layer. You shall each fall one by one till the sins stand at the top."

the tape petered out and the T.V returned to the news broadcast. Everyone stood in silence unsure of what to say or do. And in the distance the first boom of thunder could be heard, as rain began to fall in blinding sheets all over japan.

_In tokyo_

Icchan stared out of his window and sighed. He had just seen the news broadcast right after he had finished talking with Oujiro. He looked more worn down than before, and paced for a minute or tow before going to his desk and opening the drawer. He dug to the very bottom and pulled an old folded photograph and looked at it. The colors were faded now but he could still make it out.

It was a much younger Icchan, probably in his late teens, and nest to him was man that looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties. He wore a lab coat and had a cigarette between his lips, and his long shaggy hair and coke bottle glasses gave him the look of an overworked college professor.

"Hey john... wish I had known what you were thinking back than. Maybe I could have prevented all this if I had known how twisted you were from the start... but thats not whats important now. What is important is that I make sure whatever your planning doesn't happen."

Icchan sighed again and folded the picture back up and shoved under the papers in the drawer. He had a headache. And it would be awhile before it got better.

_Back in Hokkaido._

Misaki sat on her bed, holding her pillow in her arms, wondering and wondering. What was this all about, and what were the sins saying all that stuff for? What sort of lies did they mean?

She had no way of figuring it out and felt like crying into the pillow. Just as she was about to do so, a very tiny knock came from the other side of the door.

"it's open."

Hatoko shuffled in, her face racked with worry. She stood in silence for a few seconds and than without warning rushed forward and glomped Misaki down onto the mattress. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she tries to speak.

"Dont worry Misaki, we can beat them, we can do it. I wont let the do anything bad."

Misaki had no response for this but to hug Hatoko back as hard as she could to try and reassure her friend. It didn't seem fair for all this to be happening. She finally gets her vacation, and now the one thing she didn't want to think about hunted her all the way there in the form of a news broadcast.

She felt sad, and worried, and mad all at the same time. What did they have against angelic layer? She had the feeling she would get more answers back in Tokyo. But for now she had no choice but to wait.

_Elsewhere._

Lust was reclined back on a huge leather sofa, dressed in a pair of jean shorts cut very high up, and a white t-shirt. Beside her on the couch was wrath, her focus drawn to the T.V screen as she watched music videos. Just as she was dozing off on the couch, her pocket began to vibrate. She dug out her cell phone and saw that it was gluttony.

…..(_click)_

_Hello? Lust?_

"Yes hello. What can I do for you Gluttony?"

_if your up for it, I thought perhaps it was time you and wrath stir up some trouble for us._

"Trouble? What did you have in mind?"

_Simple, once the current layer champion Misaki suzuhara gets back to Tokyo, you two go and do what you do best. I want her rattled so bad, she wont sleep for days._

"If I have too, I doubt wrath will mind. Now if youll excuse me, I have something important to attend to."

_...(click)_

Lust hung up her phone and looked over at Wrath, who was watching her with expectant eyes.

"That color blind moron got a job for us?" Lust just nodded her head and motioned for Wrath to lay back with her on the sofa.

Lust let her long nails comb through Wrath's hair until coming to rest around her in a light embrace.

"He wants us to mess with the pretty little angel and her friends. Do what we do best he said." Wrath gave a huge smile at this.

"So we get free rein than"

"For the most part I suppose. Nothing to big I should think. We only want to scare her a little, not traumatize her. Although I would love to see her adorable face crying. Lets make her cry."

"works for me."

The thunder outside shattered the sky as Wrath turned around to return the embrace from Lust, two evil maidens in the midst of scheming horrid things, locked in a warm embrace.

End chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

_(notes from L.O.R: well hey everybody, good to see you all back to read. I have mentioned before in other stories that I a very musically driven in my inspirations and I keep a very extensive play list. While writing this chapter I listened to david bowie's (life on mars) dir en grey's (marmalade chainsaw) and the theme song to the show cutey honey, over and over. Hard to tell what inspired what story wise but oh well.)_

Angelic layer, the (SSS) ch:8

_Seven years ago_

in a crowded conference room, several men in suits and doctor coats stood, looking over a large screen filled corner to corner in blueprints and schematics of what was to be there greatest project. Prosthetic body parts, controlled directly by the brain, and more importantly the new idea to make the funding possible, the first prototype angel, sitting on the table.

A young, Icchan stood there, not looking proud though, but very tired and sad.

At the far end of the table stood a haggard looking scientist, his lab coat wrinkled and stained, and his bushy long hair going gray prematurely.

His face was worn and thin, and he stared at the tiny prototype angel through inch think glasses that sat on a crooked nose that looked as if it had been broken more than once.

It was the one of the unnamed doctors to speak first, addressing the old worn out scientist without looking at him directly, as if ashamed to know him.

"Dr. Johnny Albert, Rockford. You stand here today in front of the board of directors and several of your peers on the accusations of... what is it Dr. Rockford?"

Said man had began shaking his head angrily as soon as the head of the board began talking and now had his hand up to stop him mid sentence.

"Sandsteel. My... name is... Sandsteel."

the head of the board looked more than a little upset at this odd out burst and cleared his throat before beginning again.

"I doubt that a nickname given to you by your neurology and nano-technology students is hardly fitting for you to put up such a protest over Dr. Rockford. Now as I was saying you have been brought before this review board on the accusations of unsafe work practices, endangerment to our volunteer test subjects, and worst of all on the suspicion of selling confidential hardware specs to an unidentified third party."

Through the whole string of accusations, Dr. Rockford made no sign of caring, or even hearing what was being said. His full attention was set with a laser focus on the tiny faceless angel. Icchan couldn't help but notice this and felt himself grow more and more anxious to be done with all this. He was suddenly forced from his stupor though when Dr. Rockford addressed the board.

" For the record, I Dr. John,_"Sandsteel" _have only a few things to say on my behalf to you all. First off, if you find my lab procedures too...unsafe I believe is what you said... than the lot of you obviously have no spines. Science is here for the betterment of man. If we don't take a few necessary risks, than we wont accomplish anything."

he stopped and looked around him, judging the looks he received in response and grinned a bit before continuing.

"Next, as for the volunteers, they got paid. And besides, our work is to create the perfect form of robotic prosthetics. This is no small task, and the need to use all our resources to their fullest is of prime importance."

Dr. Rockford sat down, and showed no sign of having any comment as to the third accusation against him. But after a moment of silent consideration he pointed at the prototype angel and gave it a look of disgust.

"As to that little thing, I have made my opinion clear from the get go on how we should have handled the funding issue. A child's toy? Really? I'm honestly disappointed in you Mihara-kun, I expected at least you would have understood my vision for this company and the future."

Icchan sat up in his seat ramrod straight at the mention of his name, and felt shivers run up his spine from the icy look he knew john was given him, even if he wouldn't turn to face him directly. But he swallowed hard and in a shaky voice responded.

"Well, just like you Johnny-sempai, I didn't do this to please you, I did it for the greater good. Your too blinded by your own issues to see the flaws in your logic. The force feed back angel visors you designed are too dangerous for us to use, and even more dangerous is your idea of what to do with them. We are doctors and scientists. Not soldiers or murderers. I wont have you spoil the good and innocent purpose we are trying to work towards with your war mongering. Thats why I turned you in to the board Johnny,"

Johnny for his part simply grinned from ear to ear, in some kind of approval almost, for Icchan's obviously ruthless betrayal of his sempai. The last glance Icchan saw of Johnny was of him being escorted out by security and for the time being, hoped that was the last he would ever see of the mad man...

"Goodbye john... Sandsteel."

_Present day._

Misaki sat silently in her room, staring out the window. In a few short hours she would be on the bus back to the train station, and on her way back to Tokyo. With any luck she would finally get the answers to all the questions bouncing back and forth in her head.

All the possible fun that could have been, had been sucked right of the day by the seven sin's unexpected news broadcast. Ohjiro had barricaded himself in his room after that, making hurried phone calls back and forth to angelic layer headquarters. Hatoko was snoozing on the bed next to Misaki, and the small breathy snores she emitted were strangely calming to her as she sat and thought, starring at Hikaru on the dresser across from her.

"What do it do now? I bet mom or Icchan would know just what to say. Hikaru, as long as I have you I don't plan on giving up. Never ever. Because of you I got to meet my mother again, and icchan and Ohjiro and Hatoko and all my other friends."

she owed so much to Angelic layer. She refused to just let it be messed with by these people. Even if she was afraid, she had to be strong for everyone. What choice was there, run and hide? Absolutely not!

She would face this new challenge, and whether sher won or not didn't matter, as long as she tried. She knew it in her heart that she couldn't back down for a second.

With her new found determination, Misaki jumped lightly off the bed and ran out into the hallway, not really certain of what she was doing, but she felt like she had to seize the time she had to be prepared for whatever was waiting in the future. Without thinking she found herself in front of Ohjiro's door, and knocked waiting for a response.

After a moment, a rather agitated looking Ohjiro peeked his head out from the door.

"Umm...yes Suzahara-san, what do you need?" he looked genuinely surprised when she suddenly bowed her head and yelled out,

"I need you to help me train when we get back to Tokyo! Please Ohjiro-san!"

"Umm...yes? I mean sure, yes." the look on his face was between confusion and amusement as Misaki thanked him and marched off back to her room.

"She seems quite energetic in spite of the bad weather. I suppose I need to get my own skills sharpened again soon anyway. I haven't taken wizard out to the piffle princess to train as much as I would have liked lately anyway."

It was hard to explain how just seeing Miskai happy seemed to help brighten even the dreariest days. But he had the distinct feeling it was going to be a long trip back home for some reason he couldn't explain.

_A short time later..._

it was with heavy hearts that Misaki and the others said goodbye to Hatoko and Kotaro's great aunt and uncle at the bus stop that would take them to the train station. The rain feel lightly around them, with the threat of the full force of the storm slowly brewing in the far distance.

Just as she had finished saying goodbye to old Hoshino, Kotaro's great uncle signaled for her and Hatoko to follow him tot he side of the bus stop with a serious look on his face.

As soon as they were there he sighed and smiled at the both of them

"Well my dears it seems you have something not quite so pleasant waiting for you back home eh? Well I have thought about this for a bit. Ya see, when I was a lad way back when, there was this young man in our neighborhood with mixed blood. That is to say he was part English, and it stood out. Nowadays that sort of thing don't matter, but this was right at the end of the war, and a good portion of the Japanese people didn't take to kindly to him."

Hatoko and Misaki looked confused, unsure of the point of all this.

"Uncle Hiro, what are you talking about? We don't have time for a story."

the old man just smiled again and patted Hatoko on the head and continued as if she hadn't interrupted.

"Well like I said, he wasn't very popular around town, and eventually it started getting to him. Turned him sour if you will, wasn't long before he was racing around town on a motorbike, giving people hard looks, and hassling anybody who got on his nerves. Soon enough people were too scared to mess with him. But in the end all he had was himself."

the old man stopped here and thought for a second as if he had lost track of were he had been going with his story, than slowly left his stupor and continued.

"The point is, sometimes, when people are mean like that or trying to be scary, it means that their more scared than the people there trying to hurt. Just like that boy from when I was young, those sin fella's look to me like a bunch of bullies, and bullies are only like that because they don't know how to cope with their problems. The way I figure, the only reason they put on all the flash is so no one will know how sad and angry they really are. So listen to your old uncle Hiro, never let them see you be afraid of them. The second they see that you aren't scared, is the second all their smoke and mirrors go out the window, and they have to back up their bark with bite. If they even actually have any."

Misaki wasn't sure of what to say, she somehow felt as if this old man had just given her the key to getting back all her confidence with those simple words. Both her and Hatoko felt very touched at the old mans encouragement and gave him a tight hug and a quick peck on the cheek before running off the catch the bus with their friends, a new hope singing in their hearts.

Just as the bus was rolling out she looked back one more time to See the old man Grinning from ear to ear pointing to his cheek where Misaki had kissed him, as Old Hoshino looked like she couldn't care less about her lecherous husband. She hoped she would get to see them again soon.

_Back in tokyo..._

Sai felt terrible, she had not slept for the past two days, and her joints were starting to feel stiff. What was worse was that the storm the news had promised seemed to be finally rolling in. she couldn't help but wonder why she had agreed to go out today.

Kaede had shown up at her apartment, with blanch poking out of her hand bag as always. It seemed that she had promised to meet both Misaki and Hatoko at the station so they could get some shopping in.

and somehow Sai found herself dragged along, sitting alone at a cafe table in the train terminal while Kaeda was busy getting herself some thing to drink. She hated these sort of things, and yet she found it very hard to say no to Kaede.

Just as she was arguing on whether to try some kind of excuse to duck out early she heard something.

It was faint, but somehow it made it to her ears through all the other noise of the train station. It was someone singing, it was light and airy, but the lyrics were far to familiar for comfort.

"_when the devil is to busy_

_and deaths a bit to much._

_They call on me, by name you see..."_

Sai knew that song, and she knew that voice. The second she had seen the news broadcast and saw that same smug face and long black hair, she had felt her body growing hot with anger. The girl who had approached her that day was a sin, and worse off she had been scoping her out. And even though she couldn't see the little demon, she knew she was close by.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Sai, they didn't have the melon bread you liked, said some weirdo in a black suit and lipstick bought them clean out about a day or two ago weird huh?... something wrong?"

"Yes and no, I think we may have a problem, just trust me for a second and follow me."

Kaede was unsure of what to say but followed after Sai anyway.

Following her gut instinct Sai criss crossed in between pillars and other things without looking like she was trying to hide. It wasn't long before she saw her quarry, and hide behind a large billboard, with both lust and Wrath on the other side like she suspected.

Sai quickly put her finger to her mouth to signal for Kaede to be quite and listen, while her confused cohort simply nodded, excited about the unexpected adventure they where now on.

The other side of the billboard, Wrath leaned lazily, her denim jacket hanging loosely on her shoulders her hair tied back into a ponytail. Lust for her part was wearing a tight white short with a black jacket over it and black jeans that showed off every possible curve. Her blond hair had been straightened and flowed down her back in a shiny cascade.

"This is boring lust, how long we gotta wait? I thought they were supposed to be here by now."

"Patience, Wrath. I told you already the train is due at 3o'clock. Its not even two thirty yet. We have time to prepare this way."

Wrath just sighed heavily and Sai could hear her pacing back and forth. Than something occurred to Sai, and she turned and whispered into Kaede's ear.

"What time does Suzuhara-san's train get into the station?"

Kaede suddenly looked worried and held up three fingers to signify three o'clock. Sai may have been being paranoid, but she decided it would be a good idea to keep an eye on on the strange girls for now, just to be sure.

"So we know what exactly were gonna do yet Lust?"

"No I suppose not, but I think you work best when you wing it, that way it's a surprise. I love that kind of thing.'

Wrath gave a knowing nod and than stood up from off the billboard.

"I suppose. Im sure I can figure something out. And even if we don't think of something it isn't like we were actually obligated to do this, so the clown and the boss can't complain."

"come now Wrath, calling gluttony a clown is a bit harsh. He just has an... extensive wardrobe... and a lot of make up. Besides I don't want to leave without having some fun, you said we could make her cry. I planned on holding you to that promise."

"Fine, we make the girly cry. Your so needy sometimes you know that?"

Sai had heard enough at that point, one thing was sure, these two were here to cause trouble. No choice at this point, she couldn't well just ignore the situation now. She looked over at Kaede who had a similar look of determination on her face. This wasn't just about protecting the angelic layer champions en route home. This was about putting a wrench in the sin's gears.

With all are her gumption Sai ran around the Billboard ready to say something before confronting the two sins, only to find the area unoccupied. A quick look around showed the back of Wrath's ponytail vanishing into the crowd of commuters and the like.

"Well...damn it... now what?"

Kaede was beside her in a second scanning the crowd.

"We can't just let them go, can we? Come on, we've come this far. Lets go!"

And off they went in hopes of catching the Wrath and lust, and preventing whatever evil deed they planned to commit. But after five minutes of searching they seemed to have vanished completely. Sai sank down beside Kaede on a bench and heaved a sigh.

"it is no good, being sneaky seems to be their strong point. All we can do is hope we get to Suzuhara-san before they do I suppose."

just as she felt ready to give up she saw the back-end of a ponytail attached to a denim jacket going into a restroom.

"Say, Kaede, wait here a bit will you. I'll be right back."

Here friend just nodded as Sai got up and cautiously stalked over to the bathroom. She had hardley been gone a minute when suddenly a set of hands found their way over Kaede's eyes, as she giggled thinking Sai had suddenly developed a playful streak.

She was unfortunately mistaken though, when she felt a curtain of soft long hair fall around her, and a sultry voice that was defiantly not Sai's whisper in her ear.

"Guess who cutie..."

_back with Sai..._

it was with utmost caution that Sai walked in to the washroom, and at once she felt something was wrong.

The whole place was empty, something not likely for such an active train station. It was than that she saw a sign posted by the door.

_(we apologise but this facility is closed until further notice for maintenance, please use the washrooms at the other side of the terminal)_

she felt a sinking sort of quivering in her stomach as she gripped the hem of her uniform, she had been tricked! A fact that was reinforced by the door to the restroom shutting and locking_, _with wrath who had been waiting between the door and the wall for her to show up.

"Cute, thought you could tail us, and we wouldn't notice? One thing I've learned in life, is to always expect to be either attacked or betrayed. In this case as soon as I saw that puke green school garb of yours I knew it would be good to error on the side of caution for a change. That stupid clown would chew me out if I messed up so early in his little game."

all the while as she spoke, the short Wrath had been cracking her knuckles and shaking her hands as if in anticipation. Sai refused to let her have all the say in this though.

"So big deal, you caught me. Like you could do anything, your as tiny as a middle schooler. How old are you anyway kid, 16, 15?"

Wrath's eyes twitched at every word and her hands had balled into fists. A crooked, forced smile gracing her face.

"For your info...bitch, im 18. so yea, im a bit underdeveloped for my age, so god damn WHAT!"

Sai had no idea when it had happened but with a speed she couldn't have hoped to react against, she felt as if a cannon had just blasted her in the stomach.

Of course it was only Wraths fist, but the hit was harder than what she would have expected form even a full grown man to throw. And with all the breath gone from her body she found her self fall gracelessly onto her knees just as Wrath was turning to leave.

"Ya know what, you put me in a bad mood. I'm out of here, I don't feel like waiting for the train now anyways. Besides, I think my partner should be done having her fun with yer little friend"

Sai had hardly been able to registered what was said though as she felt the pain coursing through her, from her stomach all the way to her head, and than the world went black...

_elsewhere..._

It was with a little difficulty that Misaki was able to get the last of her luggage off the train, and sighed. She was tired, but still happy to be back in Tokyo, and even better she remembered that Kaede was supposed to meet them here so her and Hatoko could go shopping. It was with a little confusion though that she saw Hatoko looking out at the terminal in front of them with a deep look of dread etched on her face.

"Hatoko-chan, what wrong?"

All Hatoko could do was point, and as Maski followed the path of her finger, she let out a gasp at the sight before her.

There stood Sai, leaning heavily on Kaede's shoulders, and ice pack on her head and her face pale as moonlight. And Kaede her self looked more than a little upset, and Misaki couldn't help but notice what looked like the faint smudge of lip stick on her forehead.

"Nah! What happened to you two?" Sai just shook her head and focused on trying to breath and Kaede struggled to support her shell shocked friend.

"It's a long story, and somewhat painful."

"But one that would be best told from the beginning in more comfortable environs."

everyone jumped at the sound of a new addition to the conversation and turned to see none other than Icchan standing there, looking as if he had run the whole way there.

"I had been hoping we could due this later, but it seems things are moving at a pace to fast for the comfort of my own issues. I owe you all an explanation. If you'll come with me back to headquarters I can explain as much as I know."

and so our hero's found themselves following Icchan, in the hopes of having a piece of this mystery unraveled for them.

_Later in an unknown location..._

_Gluttony was hunched over a long desk, littered with the remains of circuit boards, wires and all kinds of disassembled electronics. It was rare moment where he was completely with out make up and the like and he was garbed in a simply white shirt and a pair of worn down cargo shorts, his messy hair standing out in several directions with out the use of hair gel like he would usually slather on. _

_With out all of his usual accessories he seemed to look just plain tired and a frown was on his face as he worked._

_In one hand he had a soldering and in the other what a fork that was constantly digging into a large pie that sat beside him as he looked over his handy work._

"_well now, I think just maybe, I have it right this time. The early models were to cumbersome to be useful, and the others couldn't hold the needed circuitry in them to work, all thats left is to integrate it to the angel's software and we shall be in business." _

_Triumphantly he held up his project and admired it. A slender black angel visor. Adorned with bat wings at the back instead of the usual feathery looking ones that would be there._

"_Just hope it doesn't act up on us. I don't have the time to test it like I should. Oh well, we can just see what happens, after all science is for the betterment of mankind. If we don't take a few necessary risks we wont accomplish anything? Will we boss?" _

_the last part was directed at a small photo on the desk, a Picture of Dr, Rockford and who could be no one else but a younger, somewhat fitter looking gluttony dressed in a business suit._

"_yep, I intend to take this farther than you ever dreamed boss, just you wait and see."_


	9. Chapter 9

_I really have no witty comments to put here today, so lets get on with the chapter shall we?_

Chapter 9

it was after a short trip by a set of cabs that everyone now found themselves in Icchan's office. The gray sky outside rumbled with thunder and the group felt more than a little bit unsettled. Without a word they all settled themselves around the office, as Icchan sat behind his cluttered desk and adjusted his glasses for a moment before sighing and looking up at them each in the face until stopping on Misaki.

"I know your all a bit confused, but I suppose thats to be expected. I would ask you save any questions for after I finish though. It's difficult enough for me to talk about this, and I would rather just say it all at once with as little struggle as possible."

with that he stood up and walked to the massive window that overlooked most of tokyo and gave a grim smile, than suddenly as if remembering something looked at his watch and frowned.

"She's late. Thought I told her to be here sooner..."

as if on cue the door to Icchan's office slowly swung open as the person in question, Misaki's mother, and the former champion of the layer.

"ah Shuko-san, I was worried you wouldn't make it."

"Sorry Ichiro-san, the traffic was bad."

Misaki couldn't help but giggle inside her head as she say icchan blush at the use of his actual name. For someone who was supposed to be serious, he had too much of a child like personalty at times she thought. But that was just who Icchan was, and thats why people liked him.

"Right than, well now that everyone is here I should like to begin. To start... well, to frank and honest, most of this is my fault, at least in the sense that I didnt have the foresight needed to prevent this. When I was a younger man, before I met shuko, and before Ojiro and I were brothers, I was a student of both robotics and neurology. I studied abroad and eventually I came to America for a short time."

In side his own mind Icchan played back the events of those days in his head, wondering how things could have been different, than remembering he was still telling a story cleared his throat and continued.

"While in the U.S.A I learned of an independent robotics lab that was working on a new project that ventured to create robotic limbs that were controlled through human thought waves. And the head of this project was a man name Johnny Rockford. Johnny was ambitious, and I was instantly amazed at the level of his intellect. It wasn't long after that I discovered that the robotics company had a branch in japan working with a lot of the local hospitals. Soon after I was signed on and shortly after I met Shuko-san, and well the rest as they say is history."

It was here he paused and began to pace a bit, his audience unsure of what was to expected from this whole exposition.

"It wasn't long after that the Angelic layer project began. And we were all excited, except one person, Dr. Rockford. He thought the whole idea of making toys was stupid, that it was a waste of our resources, he thought that we could solve the funding problem and help people at the same time. But he was more than just ambitious, he was... well without a doubt... he was a madman."

"It wasn't long after that we all discovered what he was really doing behind our backs. He had developed something called the force feed back system. It was designed to register the impact of whatever happened to the angel in the users own nervous system. In short, it let you feel what the angel would feel, in order to use it more effectively."

Although he asked for no questions Sai stood up and interrupted him.

"So why is that so bad. Aside from being able to feel some pain I assume? I wouldn't mind that so much."

Icchan just shook his head and sighed.

"It isn't all that simple. If it was just that than we really wouldn't have a problem. But there were problems with the system. It was too good, it let the user experience the full nervous effect of the stimulus administered to the angel. It is a scary thing what the mind can do. Even though it is the angel getting damaged, the force feedback system fooled the mind into thinking it was actual damage to the body, test subjects would leave his labs with bruises from stress, cuts on their skin and in one extreme case torn muscle tissue."

no one was sure of what to say, a stunned silence fell over the entire office as Icchan made his way back to his desk and sat down.

"That isn't the end of it either. He had a bigger goal. He was developing the force feed back system for something a bit more... grown up than the angels. He had been accepting contracts from weapon manufactures behind our backs and was working on creating the perfect robotic soldier. One that could be controlled from a distance by a pilot using the angel technology, but made more combat ready with his force feedback system. Of course as soon as we found all of this out we moved to have him removed from his work. Not only was he making weapons, but I knew it was just a matter of time before one of his test subjects ended up ether in the hospital or worse."

it was here he stopped and looked to all of them, expecting maybe some sort of comment, but no one was even sure of what to say. It was a shocking story sure enough, but it hadn't explained everything yet. Sensing their thoughts, Icchan took one more deep breath and moved to the climax of his tale.

"now here is where it all fits together. Five years ago, an Irish born deus began competing in the United Kingdom. His angel card was registered to a Mr. Johnny sandsteel. You see, the problem with is that Sandsteel was what Dr. Rockford's students nicknamed him, because he could be as grating as sand made from steel shavings when he was in the mood to be. But this young man was not Rockford. This young man is also the strange fellow we have seen going here and there under the alias of gluttony. Who he actually is, is a mystery. But we do know he helped found the seven sin assassins. It can only be assumed for the time being, but we believe he is working for Rockford."

with that Icchan sat back down and waited in silence. His tired eyes looking at everyone in turn, as if expecting something. It was Ojiro to break the tension finally,

"So you think this whole thing is him trying to get back at angelic layer for disgracing him?"

Icchan just shrugged his shoulders in an uncertain manner.

"your guess is as good as mine, last I heard, Rockford returned to America. If anything I would be surprised to know he was still alive. He was old even than and had a weak heart. I thought had died long ago. Besides he never seemed the type to go for vengeance, but now isn't really the time for such discussion. I think that should be enough for now, your all free to go."

it was obvious that Icchan was in no mood to discuss the situation any further for the time being, so with some awkward goodbyes the group prepared to go. The girls had decided (except for Sai who had sneaked off for home) that they would still go out, if for nothing else to help ease the worry in their minds.

Of course after the first hour or so of this it proved a futile effort. With both the light rain that refused to subside, and the ever present thoughts from Icchans stories in their heads, they found them selves sitting quietly in a cafe wondering to themselves.

Misaki sat and stirred her tea without really intending to drink it as she stared into the murky liquid. Beside her, her mother shuko seemed just as distracted as she pushed the strawberry from her cake around in circles, and across from her Hatoko, Kaede and Tamo didn't look any cheerier. It was probably the most depressed she has been ever, although she wasn't really sure why anymore. After some time it was Hatoko to speak up first, although it wasn't a question anyone had been expecting.

"So kade-san, why did you have lipstick on your forehead today?"

Kaede for her part just looked down at her plate as a light blush graced her face. Of course it was that little reaction that suddenly had every one at rapt attention to hear her answer, which of course caused Kaede in turn to start fidgeting as all eyes at the table fell on her.

"Well I guess me and Sai never did get around to telling you what happened to us... in the train terminal we saw two of them, this short girl and a tall blond girl. So of course Sai decided we should figure out what they were up to, and this lead to that...

_(flashback to the terminal)_

_Kaede giggled, thinking Sai had suddenly developed a playful streak, but was proven wrong as she felt a curtain of long soft hair fall around her head and a voice whisper in her ear,_

"_Guess who cutie." Kaede was uncertain of how to react at first, when suddenly the hands where off her eyes, and the owner of the sultry voice was sitting beside her on the bench, Kaede was cursing her choice of this out of the way part of the terminal, within a few moments the train were rolling out and the whole station was empty for the time being until the next train in thirty minutes._

"_well isn't this nice and cozy, a quite moment to get to talk face to face. I suppose your wondering to your self what this is all about. To be truthful I'm not so sure myself." _

_Kaede arched an eyebrow in confusion, but refused to look at lust directly, instead choosing to look straight ahead at the tracks._

"_Than why do it, if you don't know why?"_

"_Because it's fun,i get to do things most people don't plus I get to meet little cuties like you and your friend. Of course she has more of a masculine charm to her, but that can be fun too. It's a bit off topic, but I'm a sort of a connoisseur of cute people. So far out of the lot of you all I think your my favorite. It was a close call with the prince of the layer, he has that adorable little chivalry thing going on for him." _

_It was here Kaede finally interrupted her and looked the blond woman right in the eyes._

"_you really think thats a good way to do things though, working with bullies like them, dont you even feel a little bit bad about it. I mean you where planning to something bad here today, why do things have to be like this?"_

_Lust just sat back a bit and bite her lip, as if trying to contain herself, but apparently to no avail as she began giggling uncontrollably for a good minute before calming down._

"_Oh... you really are something cutie, hmm I still think my first answer works here though, its fun. Thats all there is to it. I dont really have time to think about the other details. Of course... maybe if I got something out of it, I might give you a few hints about our plan." _

_Kaede just sat there in confusion unsure of this odd woman. Of course any logical thought was gone in an instant when lust leaned froward and and pressed her soft lips against kaede's forehead, before standing up and stretching for a second. Without warning though she was gone as quickly and quietly as she had arrived._

_Kaede just sat there, in a daze as her thoughts bumped around her head for a moment, until she was abler to gather herself, and realized that it might be a good idea to go check on Sai right about now. _

_(end flashback)_

"And thats what happened..."

Kaede's blush was a deep scarlet at this point as she looked down at her plate in embarrassment. It was Tamo to speak first.

"Grr if I had been there I would have given something to kiss, my fist! that no good succubus taking advantage of our pure little Kaede-chan!"

Misaki didn't know what to say, and Shuko just politely sipped her tea with a light look of amusement on her face. After Tamo finally calmed down, and the once present awkward silence returned it remained for a good few minutes till it was Hatoko once again to break it.

"Did you tell Sai she kissed you?"

Kaede hiccuped into her drink and looked at the little girl in amazement.

"well, it didn't seem an important detail, and I prefer you keep it between us, it's embarrassing enough..."

She was obviously avoiding the whole question and with that the subject was dropped.

Soon after with little else to be done with the day, the group decided to was best for everyone to head home, and So Misaki found herself in the back seat of her mothers car, with Hatoko sitting beside her. Her mind wandered back and forth from thought to thought, but she really didn't want to waste time thinking about things that would depress her. She knew she just had to keep positive for the time being, or else she would end up drowning in her own insecurities.

"positive things, thats what I need to think about! Lets see, im not alone, I have all my friends to help me if I need it. I have Hikaru, she's never let me down no matter what and I know I can;t let her down now either."

Misaki was pulled from her thoughts by the sensation of the car stopping and the door opening, as they stopped to let Hatoko out in front of her families Dojo. With a quick hug and goodbye Hatoko was out and the car was soon moving again.

The evening came almost too soon, and Misaki found herself laying on her bed staring at the ceiling hoping tomorrow didn't have as many surprises. And slowly her thoughts subsided, and she drifted into a deep sleep, untroubled by any nightmarish images for the first time in days.

_Meanwhile._

Sai leaned back into her bed and looked up at the ceiling, drenched in silver moonlight, creating a myriad of images in her imagination. She couldn't sleep, and she knew she probably wouldn't be able to no matter how hard she tried. Her mind was a torrid of thoughts and she hated being overwhelmed.

First on her list was the punch she had received. Now that she had the time to think about it, no girl that size should be able to hit that hard. Not by any means. Something was off about those sin's in more ways than just their personalities it seemed.

Second on her mind, has hard as she tried to push it out of her head, was the lipstick on kaede. She had pretended not to notice, but for same reason she couldn't fathom, it had been bugging her to think that the tall amazon bimbo of a woman had dared to touch her friend in such a manner.

Worse yet was the fact that it bugged her to begin with, it was pointless worrying over such a little detail, yet the the more it stayed in her mind, the more it gnawed at her forcing her to think about it.

Just as she was at he height of her frustration though, the unexpected sound of her door bell had her up and trudging to her front door, unconcerned of her simple attire of just a white tank top and mens shorts. She had not been expecting any guests at this hour, and intended to be her usually cold self till whomever it was that interrupted her attempts at sleep.

Of course any words in her mouth stopped short when she was hit with the image before her.

Kaede, looking as if she had run there, and was it Sai's imagination or was she trembling just a bit as well?

"Kaede-san... did something happen, its almost eleven at night you know."

"I know, im sorry. It's just, well my parents are out of town for the next few weeks on a trip, and I got lonely so I decided to walk to the convenience store. And well, it was dark and I guess I'm just a wimp but me and blanch thought we sow someone following us out of the corner of our eyes... so..."

"So you ran all the way here to my house which is at least a mile and a half away from the convenience store by your house."

"Well, yes..."

Sai couldn't help but shake her head as she ushered Kaede into her apartment. It may have been late, but in the end, she figured she just couldn't say no to Kaede for some reason or other.

_Elsewhere at the same time_

"Im not impressed to be honest. But of course my own personal feelings don't really come into the matter. You might as well just not of gone in the first place. I'm beginning to think that perhaps I should trust someone like Pride or Envy if I want results."

Gluttony sat with his arms crossed, while on the other side of the massive round table Wrath and Lust sat in their respective seats. Lust stared down at the table, a look of embarrassment on her, while Wrath looked like she wasn't listening, which she wasn't. Lust looked up at her fellow sin and for the first time he seemed to be in a way as intimidating as his rank among them suggested he should be. He was with out hair dye or makeup, and the dark circles around his eyes gave him and oddly haunting look as he glared at them.

"luckily for the two of you, the boss needs all us for this. But trust me when I say this... I gave you the good fortune you have right now, and if I didn't need you for this I would gladly trade the both of you. Don't think I can't take back what I've done for you... especially you Wrath. I can just as easily undue what I the boss gave you... don't think I can't."

it was here that Wrath suddenly began to pay attention, her face twisted in furry as she slammed her hands on the table.

"You wouldn't! You can't! The boss did all that for me, you don't have the know how to do it!"

Gluttony gave a twisted little smile and pulled up his sleeve to reveal a rather bulky wrist watch, which without much thought, he flicked a few times before taking his fingers and twisted the tiny nob on it a few times.

Wrath had no time to comprehend what he was doing before suddenly her head slammed hard into the solid wood table, and lifted up again, sporting a small trail of blood.

"OWWW! What the fuck was that you creepy clown!"

"Silly little girl, you forget, I'm an expert at hardware and all sorts of little things. I made most of what the boss used for this whole operation... I can do as I please, short of killing you of course... now get the hell out of my sight, the both of you."

Wrath looked ready to unleash a verbal onslaught, when suddenly Lust grabbed her by the shoulder, looking terrified. Wrath looked back to Gluttony, than to the frightened and concerned Lust and sighed. Without another word the two of them left, of course not without Wrath giving Gluttony the finger before going, who for his part just sat there and smiled at them in a cynical manner.

As soon as the two of them were out of Gluttony's room and safely outside in the night time air, Lust garbed Wrath around her tiny waist, falling to her knees crying a bit into the shorter girls chest.

"You...(sob)..should know better..(sob)..than to make him really mad. (Hiccup)... he hurt you this time. Next (sob) time it could be worse..."

Wraths look softened just the thinest bit as she stroked Lusts hair in as comforting a manner as she could muster.

"Look, I'm fine. Just bump to the head, besides I know where I stand around here... I don't need you reminding me. When you sign your soul to the devil, you want to think about it as little as possible... I guess the real question is though, which one is the devil. The boss, or Gluttony?"

Lust just looked up at Wrath with a confused look on her face, than stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes and looped her arm around lust shoulders as they walked through the night in silence.

Back in the darkened room, Gluttony sat and stared at his reflection in the table, than pushed his chair up and smiled. He was his long green jacket and boots again, not like him to repeat an outfit, but he was in a bad mood. With out mush thought he click a switch on the table and watched as all the windows opened and the moonlight flowed in to reflect off the rather bare wooden floor.

And suddenly with an odd grin on his face picked up a small remote from somewhere and pushed it so suddenly a soft yet rather whimsical music suddenly filled the whole room. Without warning Gluttony began to waltz with his arms out stretched as if he were dancing with someone, and as the music over his speakers got louder he began to sing.

_Garsu no me oingyou_

_aru yoru utai dashimashita_

"_Nee suteki na ka kuni e_

_kimi o tsurete ikimashou ka"_

_(the crystal eyed doll,_

_during a certain night sung,_

"_Hey shall I take you to_

_a wonderful world?")_

_Shiroi usagi oikakete_

_fukai ana e ochiteku_

_hora mou modorenai_

_(following the white rabbit_

_Alice fell into a deep hole._

_See now she cannot go home._

_Totemo fushigi na kuni!_

_Nozomi wa nandemo kanau_

_nemu no ki no ue de_

_niyari CHESIRE neko ga watau_

_youkoso_

_(such a strange world!_

_where whatever you wish for comes true_

_On top of the silk tree,_

_the Cheshire cat grins and says_

_welcome.)_

_at this point Gluttony imaged it was Misaki dancing with him as he waltzed and sung his song. With each turn and twist he brought his imaginary Misaki a bit closer to him as he went I circles._

_Modotte oide yo, Alice_

_Ue kara yobu koe kikoeta_

_keredi shoujo no me wa_

_suteki ne kon kuni ni muchuu!_

_(you should go back alice_

_she heard a voice from above_

_but the eyes of this girl_

_have already been entranced by this wonderful land!)_

_Shiroi bara no michi nukete_

_subete akaku somatta_

_hate made ochiteiku_

_(running though the road of white roses,_

_everything gets dyed in deep red_

_she continues to fall till the end)_

_Kiniro no tokei wa_

_Kachiri oto o tometa no yo_

_korede daijoubu_

_yukkuri ocha ga nomeru wa_

_Eien ni!_

_(the golden clock_

_stopped it's tick-tock sound_

_but its fine_

_Alice will simply drink tea_

_For eternity!)_

Now gluttony began to dance a bit faster, and in his fervour moved closer to windows, feeling the rush of the cool wind on his face as he moved in sync with his fake Misaki.

_Yume no kakera no kuni!_

_Nozomi wa nandemo sorou_

_kimi ga suteta mono_

"_Tada hitotsu o nozoite ne"_

_(a world made from fragments of dreams_

_her wished all come true._

_From the people she casted away_

"_you can only save one of them okay")_

_ Ugokanu tokei to_

_Korogaru ningyou futatsu_

_sasayaku michibiki_

"_Nee. Issho ni ikimashou ka..._

_Fushigi no kuni!"_

_(the stopped clock and_

_the tumbling doll, they both_

_gently lead and whisper_

"_Hey, shall we go?,_

_To wonderland!)_

And with the last verse Gluttony reached the window and on the very last line, pushed out with his hands, sending the imaginary Miaski backwards and out the window...

it took several minutes for his laughing to die down as he sat cross legged on the empty floor, but subside it did as he fell back and looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

"soon enough... you will taste fear... all of you."

_end chapter 9_

_from the author : well wasn't that fun... for those of you curious the song that Gluttony sings is called alice in dream land, and it was sung by Kaito shion the vocaloid.. I fell in love with it and knew it had a place within my little world... please remember to review. _


	10. Chapter 10

_Howdy friends and enemies alike. L.O.R here. Sorry for the wait i once again bring to you the latest chapter. Also because I forget to say it sometimes, I don't own angelic layer or it's official characters in any way shape or form. If I did, there might be some cause for alarm on their part..._

chapter 10 of the seven sins saga: Training, and an unexpected match.

It was late afternoon when Misaki found here self waiting beside the training layer at the Tokyo Piffle princess. She gripped Hikaru tightly and tried here best to be calm. Today was one of the days that her and Ojiro were supposed to train together for the Kanto preliminaries and he was already ten minutes late.

Misaki wasn't so much worried as she was nervous, and excited. The longer he took to get there the more her mind would spiral with all kinds of questions she didn't have the answers to. One good question was what would happen during the preliminaries? If the sins really did show up, could she win? She knew it was pointless to worry, she just had to believe her and Hikaru could pull through.

But at the same time she was plagued by doubt. If she lost, she would let all the people looking up to her down. Somehow that idea scared her more than the idea of just losing. And worse, the sins themselves scared her, whatever they wanted she had a feeling it couldn't be good. No point dwelling on it now though. In the end, the layer was were it was all going to go down. If she wasn't ready for them it would be her own fault.

Without much thought she looked down at Hikaru and smiled. The little angel had become everything to her. Hikaru had let her meet all her wonderful friends in angelic layer, and even bring her together with her mother. There was a magic on the layer between the angels and their users, a deep connection that went deeper than master and toy. It went as deep as friends, family, maybe even deeper than that to some.

Hikaru was an extension of her own soul on the layer, yet at the same time her own entity. A powerful angel gleaming for all to see. If she could just keep the positive feelings in here heart when she thought these things she could do anything she set her mind to.

With her resolve once again set and firm she decided it did no good to stand around and worry, and activated the layer and began to run Hikaru through the paces to make sure she hadn't gotten rusty from the break between seasons. Hikaru moved as smoothly as ever and the sight of her angel in action again gave Misaki a strange sense of calm, it was always a never ending source of amazement to her at how well Hikaru responded to her. That such a a fragile looking thing could become a fierce warrior at the whim of her thoughts and feelings.

This was angelic layer, and it was made to make people feel happy like this. If the sins wanted to take that feeling away from people for their own selfish reasons, than that was that. They couldn't be allowed to win. She couldn't afford to give them an inch.

"Hope you didn't wait too long for me."

the sudden feeling of a hand on her shoulder and the sound of Ojiro's soft voice pulled her from her thoughts as she smiled up at the tall boy.

"It's okay Ojiro-san, there wasn't any reason for you to have rush. Come on lets get training!"

With a smile Ojiro was seated and his trusty Wizard was out on the layer, ready to take on Hikaru once more. With out a second to spare Wizard was upon her and the sparring match began, the two angels moving in an almost perfect unison as they exchanged blows with one another, as if dancing together. In no time at all it had turned into a game of give and take between the two of them as each one took turns taking the defensive, testing out which moves worked and what didn't.

The rest of the world was drown out for that short time spent between them and their angels. Noting else mattered but the layer.

Before long though one of the attendants came by to alert them that due to crowding they had wait at least an hour or two if they wanted to renew the layer rental. Misaki hadn't even noticed how quickly time had gone while training with Ojiro, and it felt odd to end it so abruptly. It was just as they were packing that Misaki's stomach gave a tremendous growl.

Ojiro Smiled politely like he always did and pointed to the restaurant across the street.

"Perhaps, if you aren't too tired of my company we could go and get something for lunch. We can worry about renting another layer after words."

"Tired? Of course not Ojiro, I like spending time with you. Lets get some lunch."

It was with that, that the two of them found themselves sitting silently at a small table, each one trying their best think of a good conversation.

But it wasn't easy. Training on the layer was one thing, but being together like this was just plain nerve racking.

It was Ojiro to speak first, his attention focused rather intently on his tea cup.

"Are you worried? About the preliminaries that is? The Kansai Preliminary starts tomorrow, and the Kyushu prelims start today. Not much longer till they start here in Tokyo."

Misaki thought about it for a moment before answering.

"I'm a little scared, but I know I can do it. What about you Ojiro-san? Are you worried?

"Only if I have to face you in the first round Suzuhara-san." Ojiro gave a slight chuckle and looked out the window at the street and let a small yet warm smile settle on his face.

Misaki couldn't help but notice how mature Ojiro looked most of the time. He was only a few years older than her, yet he seemed like an adult at times. It didn't seem fair that he should have to grow up so quick to her. Of course at the same time it made him all the more interesting to her as well.

Suddenly a thought struck her and with a mischievous glint to her eye that was uncommon for her, Misaki used her little finger to pick up the last dab of whipped cream from off the top of her hot chocolate.

"Hey, hey! Ojiro-san!"

Ojiro turned his head, taking her bait perfectly as her cream covered finger flicked him, plastering the tip of his nose in the white substance, as Misaki was up and out the door giggling. (Having already paid, she free to make good her escape.)

Ojiro sat confused for all of five seconds before he was up and after her, a huge grin on his face.

"Think you can best the prince of the layer so easy, eh?"

Of course Misaki was already across the street, her slender legs running for dear life as the bubbly sound of her laughter guided Ojiro in the right direction after her. With in a few minutes of this Misaki had led the chase to the park down the block from the piffle princess, and with out hesitation took to hiding among the brightly colored equipment as Ojiro nearly tripped stopping himself to turn into the park.

Although he wasn't entirely sure why, Ojiro felt his heart racing in excitement from this simple game, the youthful gleam in his eyes shinning through like the sun through a stained glass window. He was ducking and bobbing in and out of the bars and ladders of the playground catching small glimpses of Misaki's skirt in the breeze or the tip of her collar before she vanished again as sly as a nymph from old mythology.

Realizing he had no chance of catching her like this Ojiro decided to turn the tables, and waited till he was sure she couldn't see him before hiding as well. Just as he thought, it wasn't long before Misaki peeked out of her own hiding spot and looked around confused, before walking out and exposing herself.

"Ojiro-san? Where are you... Hello?"

At this point Misaki was looking into every nook and cranny around her in a slight panic. Feeling he had teased her enough, Ojiro slipped from his hiding place and snuck up behind the girl before putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Got you Suzuhara-san."

Misaki shrieked in surprise and fell backwards as she lost her footing whilst trying to turn around to see Ojiro. Completely on instinct Ojiro went down as well, catching Misaki in his arms in bridal style before she could hit the ground.

"Misaki-san! Are you alright?"

Misaki had to take a moment to gather herself as the world stopped spinning and her sense of balance came back to her, unfortunately as soon as it did, her world began to spin again, but for a different reason.

Ojiro's arms had her firmly held just above the ground, and in the position she was in, her head was pushed against his chest, the rhythm of his heartbeat filling her senses.

Further more it was one of the first times he had used her first name instead of calling her "suzuhara" and for reasons beyond her explanation found her legs had suddenly decided to become made of wiggling springs that refused to stand as her own heart started to beat faster.

"Im...fine Ojiro-san...um...i think I can walk now."

It took a moment for her voice to register with him, but when it did Ojiro suddenly realized the position he was in with Misaki and stood up quickly, giving himself a slight head rush from the motion.

"Right, well than Suzuhara-san... what shall we do now?"

Misaki had to take a moment to gather her wits before answering.

"Maybe we should just get back to the piffle princess..."

Ojiro nodded and the two of them walked in near silence back to the piffle princess, each ones mind racing to think of something to say to lift the tension that had settled between them. Unfortunately nothing came to either of them as the ascended the stairs to the second floor in hopes of renting a new layer.

Just as they reached the top though one of the attendants approached Misaki and handed her a layer rental card as if expecting her.

"Thank you for returning. As soon as you had left, someone came in and reserved a new layer for you. Said they would wait till you got, back. They even paid cash up front to make sure we held it for you Suzuhara-san. He's waiting for you at layer five at the far end of the floor."

Both Misaki and Ojiro looked at each other in apprehension but decided with a silent nod to each other to go for it. As they approached layer five a short young man stood up to greet her.

He had to be no more than four and a half feet in height, yet his face appeared to be that of someone in their early to mid teens. He wore a bright blue jacket zipped all the way up to his neck, and a pair of faded cargo pants.

What caught Misaki though was his red hair, it had been gelled back into two almost dagger like points at the back of his head to make it appear that he had horns of some kind.

His face was plastered with a smug grin.

"Misaki Suzuhara. Allow me to introduce myself, you may call me Falco... and I am here to defeat you."

Misaki stared, uncertain of how to react. Here was this odd person introducing themselves and now calming he was here to beat her.

"Defeat me? Why?"

Falco looked horribly confused by the question and stopped to think for a moment.

"'Well..because your the Angelic layer world champ right now... beating you proves I'm better...or something? Look, why does it matter I'm laying down an official challenge, I even paid for this layer, so it would be rude to turn me down."

Misaki thought about it realized despite the fact he was sort of creepy, she had no good reason to say no. besides, though she would never say it out loud, the idea that someone would go to all this trouble for a match with her, got her a little excited.

Also it was good practice to get ready for the preliminaries. A real fight would do her good.

"Alright Falco-san I except your challenge."

Falco sat down and cracked his knuckles.

"Perfect, lets get this started than."

As soon as Misaki had sat down and put on her angel visor, Falco dug into his jacket and pulled out what sorta of looked like an angel visor, but it was thin, and black. And as soon as he had put it on, two bats wings opened up on the ear pieces in opposition to the usual angel wing design.

"If its all the same to you Miss Suzuhara, I shall go first."

Falco removed his angel from his jacket and tossed into the layer with the flick of his wrist.

"Go and rock them AMADEUS!"

Falco's angel landed on one foot than set it's self down on one knee in a dramatic bowing gesture. Its lengthy white hair was tied back in a loose braid, and it wore rather old looking mens Victorian clothes including buckled shoes a frocked coat.

Misaki was unsure of this odd opponent, but cast Hikaru into the layer and ready for whatever Amadeus had up its sleeve. Hikaru took a fighting pose and waited while Falco just grinned and with a slight nod of his head, Amadeus was up and sent a quick jab at Hikaru, whom was able to easily dodge as a flurry of punches rained at her.

Her foe wasn't especially fast, but he seemed to know just where she would land after each move and had a blow ready for her before she even finished dodging or blocking the last.

Falco seemed able to predict her every move and use the knowledge to make sure she was unable to fight back. It was barely two minutes into the match before she finally saw an opening in Amadeus's movements and with a swift drop and spin had his legs out from under him.

Just as she was sure she had him though, he twisted mid air, as if havening known he would be tripped and used his momentum to roll away from Hikaru to the other side of the layer. He stood back up and Falco just yawned as he grinned at Misaki.

"Come on now, don't tell me thats all you got? I was hoping that this would have been harder for me. But you practically telegraph all your moves."

Meanwhile, Ojiro had watched the whole thing and was uncertain of what to make of it. It wasn't Misaki being obvious, no this guy was able to read far to well in Hikaru's movements. And suddenly it hit him.

"_There must be something funny about the non-regulation visor he's using,"_

Ojiro gave his full attention to Falco's strange piece of equipment and examined it as best he could from a distance. Aside from its slim shape nothing seemed out of the ordinary that he could see. All he could do now was sit and watch the fight and hope for the best.

Misaki thought and thought.

"How do I beat someone that can read my moves?"

slowly an idea crept into her head that she knew would work. It had too, because it was all she could think of.

With steadfast certainty, hikaru stopped in her tracks, and stood perfectly still. Amedaues circled her, expecting some form of attack, but when nothing happened for a few seconds, Falco began to feel agitated.

"What the heck are you doing? Were in the middle of a fight, don't act so casual with me. ...ARG! Thats it, if you wont move, than I'll make you move!"

Just as Misaki had hoped for, Falco gritted his teeth and Amedeus rushed forward, ready to strike. As soon as he was close enough, he let loose with a kick straight to the head, ready to send Hikaru flying. Misaki knew it was now or never, and with lightning speed flipped in her signature "rolling thunder", clocking Amedeus right in the face, sending him upwards and soon over the edge if the ring.

By forcing Falco to going on the offensive, Misaki had temporarily left him unable to read ahead when he had to make the first move himself.

Said deus sat dumbfounded in his chair as his angel feel lifeless to the ground. And with as much dignity as he could muster stood and gathered his angle, leaving after thanking her for the match, although she could tell he didn't mean it.

With Falco gone, Misaki breathed a sigh of relief. Sinking back in the chair.

"That was a bit nerve racking, he was kind of weird."

Ojiro sat in the empty seat across form her and thought for a moment before speaking up.

"Misaki-san, im sorry to ask this off you, but I think the two of us need to pay a visit to my brother."

Miskai sat silent for a moment before nodding her head and standing up.

"Alright, lets go!"

And soon they were off, riding the bus towards the angelic layer headquarters. Unaware of the eyes, watching them leave from behind the piffle princess.

It was Falco, to be sure and he was now turned back to the alley, counting a wad of cash in his hands.

"Youre sure this us ok? I mean I didn't beat her after all."

the tall figure or Pride slinked out from around the corner and grinned at him.

"it's fine, we got some good data from the fight. We can use what we learned here today to improve the system. You've done well."

Falco was quick to leave, as Pride waited a bit before leaving, keeping his head low till he was a block away, and inside a sleek black car now speeding down the road. Sitting across from him, a laptop beside him and a champagne glass in his hand, was Gluttony.

"Well, that went rather smoothly. I can only wish the rest would be as easy as this, don't you agree Pride?"

Pride took his eyes off his reflection in the window long enough to smile before turning back.

"I prefer things to have a bit of challenge to them. Makes life exciting."

Gluttony just frowned and sighed.

"Screw challenge, I just want results. I'm close enough to a heart attack as it is due to stress."

he looked like he meant it too, Gluttony was rubbing his temple, as he clicked his laptop and leaned back. Soon the sound of old American classic rock filled the backseat of the car.

Pride recognized the songs, but his grasp of English was ,at best, limited to the very basics. It was in these odd moments that Pride would drown out the world. He wasn't comfortable with things he didn't understand, and the only thing he understood was himself. As long as he came out of things more or less better off, or at least break even in some way., than he had no problems.

It was Gluttony to break the silence after a good ten minutes of silent sitting.

" In case I forgot to mention, I made sure that it was _you_ instead of sloth , that is entered in the upcoming Kanto perlims. I know its a little ahead of schedule,but I figured you wouldn't mind as long as you had something to do."

Pride thought for a moment and than shrugged his shoulders before laying back in his seat.

"Did you have a specific target in mind?"

"No, but you do have an objective. I need to make sure you finish in at least second. This takes care of two important things, one, it shows we are to be reckoned with. And two, it ensures that you get seeded into the finalist match's, or over all goal after all is to make sure we get at least four of us in to the finals."

Pride listened with a look of disinterest.

"Does it matter how"

"Pardon?"

"How I get to at least second. Does it matter how?"

"well I would assume by playing the game, but if you have so little faith in my equipment, that you need to resort to "alternative" methods, than fine, whatever."

"Good, this should be fun."

…_..meanwhile..._

Misaki and Ojiro sat side be side on the bus as it made its way towards the angelic layer headquarters. Misaki knew she should probably feel apprehensive about this mysterious visit to see Icchan, yet it was hard for her to feel worried when Ojiro was so close. She was far to busy being flustered to be worried. This was honestly the last thing she had wanted to think about, but recent events made it impossible to ignore.

What exactly did she think of Ojiro? They were many things, friends, rivals on the layer, yet somehow it felt like it could be more.

Misaki felt her heart flutter as she said it in her mind. That somehow there was a chance of there being something deeper between them.

Suddenly though she felt dizzy, the whole world was suddenly going to fast for her to keep up with. First the perlim's were drawing closer, she had the seven sins to contend with, and now all this confusion over Ojiro had her head spinning she held her hands to her now throbbing temples and sighed.

Ojiro for his part didn't fail to notice the sudden change in Misaki's demeanor. As gently as he could, he reached over and took Misaki's hand in his, as she rubbed at her temples in frustration.

"If there is something bothering you Misaki-san, I want you to know you can come to me for any kind of help."

The blush the graced Miskai's face was so red it could have almost been mistaken for a sunburn at a distance. She felt the heat radiate off her in waves as she tried (to no avail) to sort out her thoughts in order to form a coherent sentence.

"I...that is...thank you Ojiro-san. It's nothing though, im just frustrated, I promise. Pre-season jitters, im sure things will be better after the preliminaries have begun."

Ojiro looked sceptically at her for a moment before he could accept that for now. Of course it was about than that he rembered that he was still holding Misaki's hand. Their clasped palms resting between them on the bus seat.

He at once panicked, of course not on the outside, but in his head he heard a very reasinable voice saying he should let go now. But also another (and somewhat louder) voice saying to keep holding her hand till she says something about and feign ignorance as best as possible.

"oh I'm sorry, I just completely forgot that I hand been holding your hand for the last five miles, silly me."

Not a chance. He had to think of a way to both save face and not make it all awkward. And he had to first and foremost let go of her hand.

Until he felt Misaki tighten her grip. It might have been completely his imagination, but the sheer look of fear and misery on her face as she looked blankly at the empty seat across from her filled him with a deep dread.

It was than he decided. There was no way he could let the seven sins get anywhere near her, even if he had to take drastic measures. But first and foremost, he had to make sure he didn't let go of her hand for one second till they reached their destination.

End chapter 10.

_afternotes_

well that was fun to write, sorry it took me so long to get it to you all. I hope you all liked it, I felt very happy about how this one went, and thank it on my current input of somewhat more upbeat music. But whatever, please if you like it feel free to review, let me know what I can do to improve this for you.

_I love feedback so dont hesitate, feel free to voice any little opinion you might have, im willing to listen. _ ( L.O.R)


	11. Chapter 11

_Well here we are again with a whole new chapter. _

_And just because I don't say it often remember, I do not own angelic layer or any other clamp work or their characters._

Chapter:11

Misaki sat quietly in the one of the many padded chairs that filled the angelic layer stadiums business lobby . As soon as they had arrived, Ojiro had told her to wait for a bit while he went to find his brother.

gI promise to I wont be too long Suzahara-san. I'm sorry but I need to talk to Nii-san for a bit.h

It had now been somewhere around fifteen minutes and Misaki was getting anxious. All these odd doings had her far too tired to really care, she just wished that Ojiro would come back. She felt very alone at the moment, and was left with nothing to do.

In her musings she almost missed Ojiro and Ichan descending the stairs into the lobby and with all the enthusiasm of a puppy that had been left alone all day, was quickly up and joined with two with a brisk clop of her shoes.

Her smile was quick to fade though when she saw the look on Ichan's face. He was smiling for sure, but right away Misaki could tell it was fake. Ichan was tired, very tired, his eyes had bags under them, and his posture was terrible.

gMisaki-san, I hope you aren't to stressed, its almost time for you to give it your best. We need everybody at their top form, we have a lot of work cut out for us this season.h

Although he tried his best to inject enthusiasm into his words, they fell a touch flat as he shuffled past Ojiro and Misaki back to the stairs.

gAs much as I would like to talk, I have a lot of stuff to take care of. Were looking at sold out preliminary this year. All the media coverage had our tickets sales up by leaps. Well good day.h

Without waiting for a response he was up the stairs and Misaki couldnt help but fell sorry for her friend. It was probably a lot of work to set this sort of thing up and Ichan had been looking rather tired to her for sometime before that. Of course everybody in the building looked tired, the strain of all the extra work that needed to be done apparently falling on all levels of angelic layer's corporate workings.

As she and Ojiro walked silently out into the evening, she couldn't help but notice how he would occasionally look over at her when he thought she wasn't looking. Eventually they reached the edge of the property and were back on the side walks of Tokyo just as the street lamps began to flicker into life, shedding their pale yellow light over the cold concrete streets.

gWell Ojiro-san, I guess I will see you at the preliminaries.h

Ojiro took a moment, looking as if he was arguing with himself, fighting back the odd bundle of nerves that where wrecking havoc on his stomach like a swarm of butterflies right than.

gActually, Misaki-san... I though It might be better if I walk you home, seeing as its getting dark, and they way the city is lately... I mean if thats alright with you?h

Ojiro was suddenly glad for the street lights, as the shadows they casted help to hide the blush he knew his face must have been sporting right than. He had two reasons in his head for wanting to take Misaki home and the way he saw it they were both very good reasons.

First off, was that it was true that the city could be very dangerous at night and a young lady walking alone didn't sit well with his sense of chivalry. And next on the list was simply that he wanted to be around her longer, plain and simple.

He couldn't place his finger on it, but being with her seemed to give him an odd spring to his step that he hadn't known for sometime. Sure she was also cute, but it was more than that lately. Her infectious smile, the way her enthusiasm could make you feel like you could run a mile yourself. But most importantly, there was an air of innocence about her, not just a simple case of Nativity as some people would think, but true pure innocence.

In Ojiro's eyes the world had the potential to be a very dark place, but Misaki managed to live in this same world without ever seeming to become stained by the ugliness of it all, like so many others. And now it seemed that the world had taken notice of that and didn't seem to like it.

Every time he looked at Misaki now, he could almost see the black clawed fingers of countless, nameless horrors reaching out to try and snuff out the light she gave off. And Ojiro wasn't going to stand for it.

It took Misaki only moment before she smiled and nodded a silent yes to Ojiro as she blushed a light pink. So (a little nervously at first) the two made for Misaki's home in a comfortable silence as the last of the sun vanished and night had completely settled.

_(meanwhile, across the city ) _

sitting in the lamp light in the middle of a large park was the pair of Hatoko and Sai, side by side on a bench. The pair had meet by coincidence at the piffle princess and began a conversation, and somehow, it lead the two to a stop by the park where the engaged in small talk for a bit as they watched the sun sink down.

gSai, do you think we can do it? Beat the sins I mean.h

Sai looked out at the darking sky with a contemplative look her face, her eyes reflecting the moonlight as she thought.

gI honestly don't see how this is different from any other duel, we've faced tough opponents before. The only thing I'm worried about is how desperately they want to win, and what they might do to achieve their goals. The only thing we can do is keep our guard up, and hold nothing back on the layer.h

Hatoko looked up at Sai and felt her own courage grow at her words. It was true, if they fought their hardest and with all their heart, than there was no reason why they should have to worry about what happens on the layer. At least thats what she would tell herself for now to keep her spirits up.

Just as she was about to thank Sai for her encouraging words she stopped short, confused at the oddly serious look on the older girls face and looked forward to see what Sai was starring at.

Across the way on a series of tables was what was unmistakably a portable layer, full set up. It bothered Hatoko that she hadn't noticed it before or seen it getting set up, but she put the thought on a back burner for the more pressing issue of the two people standing on the other side of it, staring right back at her and Sai with equal intensity.

gSai...h

gYes Hatoko.h

gI get the feeling were being challenged.h

gWell than, it would be rude of us to not oblige, wouldn't it?h

With more than a little Apprehension Hatoko and Sai the ice machine approached the table and were greeted by a pair of large grins from the two on the other side.

The wearers of these grins stood side by side, their arms locked together and their free hands each reaching forward in a friendly greeting. The pair appeared to be a young boy, and girl, though it was hard to tell with either one as they where dressed in nearly similar outfits, with mirrored haircuts and the same luminous blue eyes. Most likely a set of twins or very similar siblings was what went through Sai's mind as she and Hatoko sat stood opposite the duo waiting for some kind of recognition.

Finally the two spoke up, talking at the exact same time, and tempo to the other.

gSorry for the suddenness of all this but as the two of you have guessed, were here to play a little game with you. It's nothing personal, but we have specific orders to beat you.h

Sai eyed them coldly, while Hatoko wondered at the way they spoke, but eventually she answered.

gAnd I suppose you have some terms to this match? Because if you plan to fight the both of us your out of luck. My angel is at home and I dont plan on fetching it for a little rag-tag duel with you.h

The two frowned in perfect time for a moment, but more in a thoughtful way than angry or disappointed, than nodded and spoke again.

gReally a minor detail, it isnt needed, so long as the little miss brought her's. We can still challenge the both of you. If you have the wits for it of course.h

Hatoko removed her angel Sazuka from her back pack and looked at the two confused.

gI do have it, but how does that do any good for the both of us?h

The strange pair just chuckled for a moment before responding.

gEasy, this is a specially modified portable layer. Two can play as one using our special dual command visor.h

Sai looked Down at Hatoko and than back to the duo, before holding here hand up to signify she needed a moment to discuss this with her fellow duelist

as soon as the two of them were out of the earshot of their potential opponents, Sai knelt down beside Hatoko and whispered to her franticly.

gCan we do something like that?h

gI... I don't know, but if they say it's possible. Beside, if they can do it, why cant we?h

gI don't follow...h

gSimple Sai, out of all the angles on the field who knows ours better than each other, we've been facing each other for season after season on the layer. We know each others fighting style inside and out. I think we can do this.h

Sai pondered this for a moment, it was true, she knew Hatoko's Suzuka almost as well as her own Shirahime. Why couldn't it work?

It was with an air of confidence that the two walked back ready for whatever was to be thrown at them. The two challengers had been sitting there looking bored as they waited but instantly perked up at the look on the two champions face's

gWe take it you decided to fight? Excellent! We can begin as soon as your ready to go.h

Sai was quick to stop them though.

gWhat about how to use the dual visor you have?h

gHow to use... it isn't that hard, just like a regular one. Oh right! Of course, we weren't thinking for a moment. On person commands defensive functions and the other controls all Offensive functions. Decided among you for that one, also all non-combat movements can be controlled by either, so try and work that out on your own please. We can start as soon as you feel comfortable.h

Hatoko couldn't help but wonder how long the two needed to practice to be able to talk so well in time or if they had per-prepared responses for certain questions... either way it was creepy.

After some minutes of discussing between the two of them, Sai and Hatoko stood beside each other, wearing angel visors while their opponents each put on a thin black Angel visor and made ready to fight.

c...

_elsewhere_

Misaki and Ojiro, made there way along the sidewalk slowly, enjoying each others quite company as the prince of the layer escorted the young lady home.

Despite a slight chilly breeze the two found no reason to complain about the evening. The moonlight seemed to frame the sky perfectly. Silence was the rule of the whole ordeal it seemed though, until they were about a block from Miskai's home.

As they rounded a corner, an alley cat decided that it would be as good a time as any to dive off of a balcony onto a metal trash bin with a loose lid.

The resulting gCLATTER!h was enough to wake the dead, and in this case shook Misaki right out of her peaceful thoughts and into a state of shocked panic almost instantaneously turning and throwing herself into Ojiro's chest as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

Ojiro for his part remained unsurprised at the cat, and more at the sudden addition of Misaki's weight to his body, and just as quickly as he could react his arms went up instinctively around Misaki's middle keeping her close to him until the shivers running up and down her body subsided and she was calm again.

Misak felt the the soft gthump-thumph of Ojiro's heart against her, as well as the gentle strength of his arms around her small body. She felt warm, despite the chill in the air, and with a face as red as a sunrise from her blush, she looked up at Ojiro only to find him looking back down at her.

His eyes reflected the same confusion she was feeling in her own heart at that moment, but with more of a determination than her own. And before she could figure out what sort of emotions were swimming about in the taller boys eyes she heard him whisper into her ear.

gIf...if you let me... I would gladly be your prince...yours and yours alone. I want more than anything to protect you, to keep you safe like this. Whenever you feel scared or upset I want to be able to take you in my arms and make it all right... if you'll let me...h

Miskai was more than tongue tied, she was completely speechless. She felt her face heat up by about one million degrees as her heart felt ready to explode. No words could express what she wanted to say, so in one prefect moment, just as the moon above shone down on the street and the cool wind seemed to suddenly hush it's self, Misaki leaned up as best she could and not completely sure how she had the courage to do it, placed the softest of kisses on the corner of Ojiro's mouth.

The two of them stood there in the night for a good few minutes more, simply enjoying the feeling of each others warmth, not needing to say another word as they silently stepped apart, allowing Miskai to climb the stoop into her home, as Ojiro walked down the street with a dreamlike expression on his face, a single finger coming up to touch the spot where he could swear he still felt Misaki's small, soft lips against his.

c...

_back in the park_

it had taken a little bit of fumbling and a a lot of getting frustrated, but the results were there. Sazuka was standing up right in the layer and walking back and forth with ease (after many minutes of falling and near swearing from Sai) and although they felt a bit odd over it, both Hatoko and Sai were wearing their visors and stood at the ready.

The two opposite them nodded in agreement to one another to begin, and with a toss sent their angel into the layer.

gIt's time to double the trouble! Go forth Two-tone!h

Two-tone landed in front of Suzuka and bowed a deep bow before standing back up, giving the two champions a good look at the Duo's angel. It had no discernible gender, but wore a a tuxedo one side white, the other black, the same pattern applied to it's tiny face.

One side was pale skinned, with neatly combed blond hair and a stunning blue eye, while the other half of it's face was black, with a blood red eye and messy unkempt blue hair on that side.

glets begin!Angelic fight!h

Not wanting to let the strange two have the upper hand, Suzuka was straight out of the gate so to speak as soon as the fight started. They had only a few moments of practice with the two person system, but Hatoko and Sai were determined to give it their all even if they lost. That way no one could say they never tried.

Of course Two-tone seemed to be expecting this tactic. What was not expected was the quickness in which the two Layer champions seemed to adapt to the use of the two person system. The first punch thrown was a solid hit and two-tone slid back a short distance before getting it's bearings and just managed to dodge a heavy kick from Suzuka that would have sent it out of the layer.

No more surprises, the arm locked Duet smiled, they shouldn't have been careless, but now they knew. Never underestimate the ice machine and Her greatest opponent Hatoko. Two-tone was quick to retaliate, and despite a small trip up here and there, Suzuka seemed as graceful as ever.

Of course this only helped to boost both Sai, and Hatoko's confidence. There opponents only advantage was knowing the proper use of the two person system. In comparison their dueling skills were at best adequate. The only real challenge for the two young ladies was getting themselves properly coordinate enough to teach Two-tone a lesson.

Not that keeping the two colored angel at bay long enough was easy. Two-tone did all it could to make sure that neither of the two had a chance to get a proper feel for these unorthodox controls and the battle drew on at a stalemate as the four combatants grew more and more intense. What was sure was this, they couldn't afford to let two tone keep fighting for much longer before it had the chance to take advantage of their situation.

With a moment of silent agreement between hatoko and Sai that could only come from the countless times they had fought Suzuka prepared for her counter attack. With not a moment to lose Suzuka charged and with a sudden burst of speed, tripped...

the two challengers smiled a set of hungry smiles as two tone was ready to come down on suzuka in a punishing knee attack, when the supposedly discombobulated Angel rolled right out of the way and in a lightning quick moment swept two-tones feet from under it, giving her the opportunity to grab her opponent by the shoulders and with a quick flip had two-tone flying out of the layer and into the dirt.

It was their win, and with a look of pure mortification the twin dulesits grabbed the layer, Two-tone and without so much as a gthanks for the fighth the two ran off in a huff arguing with one another.

Sai watched the scene and sighed.

gWell that was odd, kinda funny how they forgot their manners as soon as we schooled them at their own game. Right Hatoko.h

gTrue, but I cant help but worry. That seemed all to... planned out. They knew we would be here... I can't help but to think we may need to be on our guard from here till the preliminaries begin, I think some one has their eyes on us.h

Sai gave a sideways smile and motioned that they should leave the park and get going

gTrue, I get the distinct feeling a naughty little boy may be peeping in places he shouldn't be.h Sai gave a distinct glare around her at the trees in suspicion before leaving with Hatoko, her own eyes peeled.

Shortly after their departure a large tree some distance off began to rustle and with an unceremonious gfloph gluttony fell to the ground, a pair of opera glasses in his hand.

gDamn a womans intuition... naughty huh? Well no matter, we collected some excellent data today, so I can't really complain about them beating my hardware again, but that new dual system took forever... like I would expect a bunch of plebeians to understand the art I put into my equipment... no matter.h

Gluttony was quick to dust him self off and started his walk back to headquarters with a frown on his face.

gAnd yet I can't help but worry... I hate to have to resort to this... but I think if I cant scare them like this than I had better send a more gpersonalh message to the champions. Little miss Hatoko seems an awfully big beacon of hope, and I have all the data I need on her.h

gluttony dug into his pocket and withdrew his cell phone and dialed putting the phone on speaker as he walked.

(_ring... ring... rin-*cilck*... yes?)_

gSplendid I caught you at the hotel room. Wallace, it's me Johnny. I know you just to japan but I have a little assignment I want you to handle for me before we commence operations for the boss. I need you to work your magic for me I have a little problem that needs your special attention.h

_(gyou get what you pay for John. You want extra you pay extra.h)_

gIm well aware of how you operate, I can have the money by morning for you, hows an extra 500 sound?h

_gAs long as thats in Euros than were golden, what did you need me and the boys to do for youh_

gIn Euros! Why you gre- I mean fine... I need your boys to deliver a gmessageh for me, I will give you the coordinates as soon as were done here, but mind you I just want scare tactics, and nothing that can be traced back. It will be a martial arts Dojo in the inner city.h

_( Understood, the usual than. Not a problem.-*click*)_

gI had bigger plans for those morons as well but better to nip my problems in the bud while I can, rather than regret it later...h

_to be continued..._


	12. Chapter 12

_Well isn't this just ducky? Been awhile hasn't it my dear readers. I admit I got a bit distracted, and have been fervently working on my fictionpress account stories (same pen name for those interested) but yes back to my sweet guilty pleasure…._

_And for the record (because the law requires me to) I do not own either angelic layer, or any other "clamp" related work (but god knows I would if I could)_

Angelic layer the seven sins saga chapter 12: the waking nightmare.

"…Ouch! Dammit! Put the wires in straight, you trying to get us killed Maverick?"

It was late, and aside from the usual sounds of the busier streets of Tokyo, the small darkly lit side street where Hatoko and Kotaro's family kept their home and dojo was fairly quite, minus the occasional, muffled sounds of three men crouched by a broken street light.

"I know what I'm doing Wallace, ye don' ave to keep yer baggering up! Ye ain't me ma, and this ain't me first go at it!"

"Ay, I'm not yer mother, and the lord be praised I'm not or I'd woulda keeled over by now from the shame! Just make sure ye don't get the wires criss-crossed, than move so O'leary can attach the cylinder."

The aforementioned O'leary was standing keeping watch around them, a denim jacket pulled close round his him, the collar high to keep his face obscured, not that any passerby would hear them properly unless the got with in five feet, and understood English enough to piece their thick Irish accents into proper japenese.

As soon as maverick was up to take the watch, O'leary was down on the ground and in a few seconds, with an expert hand, had a small metal cylinder attached to a s small set of wires attached and putty attached to the side of the dojo's front gate. And with the task down they adjusted the bushes around the front that had been holding to hide the tiny device and with absolute silence, vanished into the night.

…..

Misaki fell onto her bed, in a dream like state and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before she grabbed her pillow hugging it to her and broke out in a fit of nervous giggles. Her moment with Ojiro was still fresh in her mind and it still felt like it might not have been real, like some kind of cruel mirage.

And yet she knew it had happened the strength of his arms around her, the gentle sound of his voice, the soft press of her lips against his skin….

She quickly shook her head, and fell back trying to rein in her thoughts so she could sleep, it had been a trying day in many ways and she was worn out.

So with a click of her lamp, and one last endearing gaze at Hikaru, sitting in a beam of moonlight on her dresser, she slipped into a quite calm sleep for the first time in some days.

…

The chirping of birds and the harsh, yet warm glare of sunshine drew Misaki slowly from her bed, and drowsily, the pajama clad girl made her way to the kitchen half-awake. It had been sometime since she had slept so well and was in no hurry today. The prelims were a week off, but for some reason that was only an after thought to her at the moment. A slow leisurely breakfast, and on the random whim of the good weather she was out of the house on a walk with no destination, just because….

She made her way over the pavement and sidewalks with out any real thought to where she was going, all she knew was that she felt ready to burst with happiness, and quite suddenly decided it wasn't fair to be enjoying it on her own. She wanted her friends with her.

After a few calls she had gotten a hold of both Sai, and Kaede, who were happy (or as happy as Sai can get which never seemed to be much to Misaki) to join her. The two had already been out and about and meet her halfway to the park.

As usual Sai had a thoughtful expression on her face, but if something was bugging her she kept it to herself.

After a bit of deliberation, Misaki decided that they would go and surprise Hatoko with a visit and ask if she would like to join them in person, rather than a phone call. And so the trio made there way lazily down the sidewalks, chatting about nothing in particular.

"And you really think it had something to do with the seven sins?" Misaki was questioning Sai as she recounted her and Hatoko's odd encounter last night, shaking her head looking flummoxed.

"I'm not sure what to think honestly. They had some pretty advanced hardware for a couple of kids… you said the guy you dueled yesterday was using an odd visor?"

"Yes… thin and black, with bat wings instead of angel wings like the normal visors."

This news only made Sai look more thoughtful as they walked, and Kaede, sensing the tension was quick to try and bring everyone's spirit's up.

"It's no good worrying now. Both duels ended in a win for our side, so what's it matter? We can ask Hatoko what she thinks when we get there. I'm sure she has some good thoughts."

Both Sai and Misaki agreed to let the subject drop for now, and made the rest of the way to the dojo. It was quite when they arrived (both of Hatoko's parents having been gone for a few days at a big martial arts tournament over seas) and considering the hour Kotaro was probably still in bed.

Sai pushed the button on the gate to ring the bell and let Hatoko know they where there, and a moment later her voice came over the static of the intercom.

"_hello? I'm sorry but the dojo is closed for the week, is there something I can help you with?"_

"Yea, you can let us in. It's chilly this morning."

"_Sai? Is that you?"_

"Yes and Kaede and suzuhara-san as well, so you gonna unlock the gate or shall I just throw Suzuhara-san over it?"

"_Hold on. Mother and father just installed a new automated opening system, stand back a little please."_

It was the tiniest of noises, a small beep, and a click… and than from nowhere seemingly half the gate was gone….

It took Sai a few moments to gather her self. If only the ringing in her ears would go away, it was awful loud, and the world could do her a favor and stop spinning…. It took her all of two or three more befuddled minutes to realize what had happened. Her head was on Kaede's lap who for some reason was pale as a ghost, and her lips were moving but the ringing in her head made it impossible to hear anything. And than she saw the smoke behind Kaede, and the smell of fire, with the distinct after note of gunpowder to it.

She tried to sit up but the world was still spinning and fell back, as her hearing slowly came back to her.

"…_ai…ear me….can y..hear me?..."_

"Sai! Please say something can you hear me Sai!

Sai was finally clear headed enough to take everything in, where Hatoko's gate had been there was now a small, steadily clearing pillar of grey and black smoke, several bushes around it were charred but the majority of any damage was to the gate it's self. The lkeft side had been blown from the hinges and the part of the wall it was built into was now missing a large jagged chunk from it. It had been a small explosion, but an explosion none the less, and with the enough force to both destroy a small part of the concrete wall, and send her back words. Luckily aside from some cuts and forming bruises, she seemed alright.

It was only after taking a better look around that she herself went as pale as Kaede…

Misaki was kneeling on the ground and it took Sai a moment to realize that her arm was bleeding, profusely, and that several good Samaritans on the street were yelling into cell phones for police and ambulances all at once in their panic.

During the blast, small as it was, Misaki had apparently taken a rather sizable blow from a piece of the wall as it blasted apart, and was currently just too shocked to notice the piece of concrete now lodged in her arm.

"Sai…oh good, I thought you might…have been….hurt…(thump).."

Misaki made it just to the end of her sentence before falling to the side, unconscious, her whole world swimming in a mix of pain and utter confusion.

For what seemed the longest time, she could only make out the things around her in tiny fragments. She heard people yelling and what might have been Hatoko, was she crying? It sounded like it.., but why? It was such a good day so far…. Than the sounds of sirens, and a few scattered images of men in white jackets, and hurried voices. Than gleaming lights, and eventually just quite darkness as her senses gave out and she gave into the strange tiredness coming over her.

…..

It was bright out, that was her first thought as her eyes drifted open and the glaring sunshine assaulted her as she awoke. She wasn't entirely sure why everything felt out of sorts though until she lifted her hand to block the sun and saw the IV in her arm, and the bandages wrapped around it from wrist to elbow. After a moment she also felt the one around her head, and finally reality shoved it's self back into her mind as it came back to her in a torrent.

The gate had opened, and from seemingly nowhere so did the explosion. And she vaguely remembered pain, and Sai getting knocked back. But after that it was a blur, of course she could, considering where she was, fill in some the blanks herself.

Not that she had time to think over it for very long, because in an instant, faster than lightning, Hatoko, her face streaked with tears had lunged from nowhere onto the bed Misaki was in and buried herself in her best friends arms sobbing.

"Your okay…thank goodness your okay…. I don't know what I would do if…if.."

It took all of Misaki's strength to reach her good arm up and wrap it awkwardly but affectingly around her younger friend and held her as close as she could for the pain slowing crawling back into her extremities.

"Everybody! Shes awake!"

Tamo was rushing in the door yelling to what apparently turned out to be a sizable group now rushing in to greet the now overwhelmed girl. Everybody from Kaede, and a bandaged up Sai, to her worried but elated looking mother and Ichan, and even Ringo-san wearing her dark sunglasses to keep hidden from the media. And of course Ojiro, who had what had to be a thousand emotions mixed on his face, and kept surprisingly quite.

No matter how many times she asked, no one had a real answer for Miskai on what exactly had happened, and that police where investigating and that she needed to rest. For the time being Both Hatoko, and Kotaro would be staying in a hotel with their parents who where now on their way back from over seas, until the police got to the bottom of the explosion.

Finally after a good hour of visiting the group was forced to leave so Misaki could rest (it took two male nurses to pry Tamo from Misaki's bed who claimed she needed a full time body guard) but soon the rabble left, Ojiro being the last.

Not having said much of anything since he had come in he silently walked up to the side of her bed and before Misaki could say a word he was on his knees, with her hand in his as he kissed it, tears running down his face.

"Im sorry… I said I would be your prince.. and I couldn't keep you safe….im so sorry… I guess I really am useless. (SLAP!)

It had come from nowhere and for all his life he would never have expected Misaki to hit that hard. The imprint of her hand lingered on his face as his watery eyes meet hers, and he almost stumbled back from the fire he saw behind them.

"Don't you ever dare think that again. Your not useless, never in a thousand years would I think that of you, you couldn't have known that this would happen and if you dare blame your self for a second than I swear I wont talk to you ever again."

She said it sternly but the gentle smile on her face betrayed her tone as she sat as best she could and kissed Ojiro's cheek.

"That's not the sort of thought that my prince of the layer should be having."

With a dazed exrpression Ojiro stood up and nodded, his determination suddenly doubled, and a new spring in his step. Was he still upset of course, but as he left Misaki to rest, he couldn't help but feel new resolve build in him.

"_That's right. I AM the prince of the layer, this is my kingdom, and someone has dared to harm MY princess… I don't have the time to waste being depressed. No one will say it but I know who's the source of all this sorrow, and on my title I swear that I'm coming for you sins."_

As he left he also couldn't help but think of the last thing that Miskai had said.

"_My prince of the layer."_

"_That's right, I'm her prince. And I won't fail her again."_

…

"YOU STUPID, IGNORANT SON OF A JACKEL!"

Gluttony paced back and forth like a mad man, screaming at the top of his lungs, sounding somewhat hoarse as he only stopped shouting to occasionally grab some object near him and throw it violently against a wall as he starred daggers at the speaker phone on the sins meeting table.

The other six sins were all there, in there respective seats watching the spectacle but knowing better to get involved as Gluttony rushed forward and yelled right at the phone.

"What where you thinking? Using such a high grad of explosive for such a tiny bomb! I said scare tactics, that means more flash, less murder!"

The unworried and unapologetic sound of Wallace's voice came over the speaker as soon as Gluttony had finished a long stream of swearing and sat down in his chair with an angry "thump"

"_Not my fault mate, O'leary loaded the blast cap, I just made the detonator. Sides' no one got knocked off, just shaken up, which if I recall was your orders. So end results are end results, you can either pay up, or we can bill ye for it later. But don't think 'bout' trying to stiff us Johnny. Ye remember what happened to Denis. Still don't walk right he don't, so you best just deal with it. Collateral damage that's all it is to me mate. (CLICK)_

Gluttony was beside himself, and with a defeated expression slammed his head into the table and remained in this position for several moments before the muffled sound of his voice came out from under the curtain of his hair.

"So does anyone have "any" good news for me? Any at all?"

It was envy to speak up first, a look of pure enjoyment on his face at Gluttony's misery.

"As a matter of fact yes, for a change. You'll be happy to know that the little project you asked me to work on is finally out of the trial phase, and is now ready,"

At this the clown faced man was up off the table, a humongous grin now plastered on him.

"You're certain? It's finally ready?"

"As sure as I'm a handsome beast. It took near forever though, and a lot of set backs, but I can say now with actual assurance that it's ready. Truthfully if it hadn't been for all the new data we gathered from all those fights and hardware tests it wouldn't have been this soon."

Envy dug into his trench coat and removed a tiny bottle, hermetically sealed, with a tiny, oval shaped, bight green pill at the bottom. Gluttony took that bottle and a look of pure pleasure came over his face.

"Perfect, how long before you can start production?"

"Another week, give or take, but we can't exactly mass produce it. I can maybe make a few hundred at a week. But I'm sure that figured into your palns?"

"Oh trust me, we wont be needing to worry about that. We aren't going for a global market after all. Just Tokyo for now, than if things go well we can worry over the numbers. Just everybody remember your part in this and will all go smooth as silk."

The mixed sound of the sin's laughter (minus Sloth you at best just could smile happily from his wheel chair next to gluttony) filled the room as they all gazed with different kinds of excited expressions at the tiny pill, as if all their dreams rode on whatever promise came with it….

_End ch 12_

_Well that's another one down. Hope you all enjoyed it. I know I take forever in-between things but it isn't intentional, I just get bogged down with too many things at once sometimes…. So yes, please read and review. And fare well._


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